דברי הימים ב', יג-יז: המלכים ה'טובים' של יהודה – אביה, אסא, יהושפט

And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim, which is in the hill-country of Ephraim, and said: ‘Hear me, O Jeroboam and all Israel; ought ye not to know that the LORD, the God of Israel, gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt? Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up, and rebelled against his lord. And there were gathered unto him vain men, base fellows that strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and faint-hearted, and could not withstand them. And now ye think to withstand the kingdom of the LORD in the hand of the sons of David; and ye are a great multitude, and there are with you the golden calves which Jeroboam made you for gods. Have ye not driven out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and have made you priests after the manner of the peoples of other lands? so that whosoever cometh to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, the same becometh a priest of them that are no gods. But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken Him; and we have priests ministering unto the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites in their work; and they burn unto the LORD every morning and every evening burnt-offerings and sweet incense; the showbread also set they in order upon the pure table; and the candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening; for we keep the charge of the LORD our God; but ye have forsaken Him. And, behold, God is with us at our head, and His priests with the trumpets of alarm to sound an alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against the LORD, the God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.’

But Jeroboam caused an ambushment to come about behind them; so they were before Judah, and the ambushment was behind them. And when Judah looked back, behold, the battle was before and behind them; and they cried unto the LORD, and the priests sounded with the trumpets. Then the men of Judah gave a shout; and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass, that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. And the children of Israel fled before Judah; and God delivered them into their hand. And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter; so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men. Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied upon the LORD, the God of their fathers.

And Joshua said: ‘Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Hivite, and the Perizzite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Jebusite. Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth on before you over the Jordan. Now therefore take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, for every tribe a man. And it shall come to pass, when the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, even the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand in one heap.’

And when the people had come into the camp, the elders of Yisra᾽el said, Why has the Lord smitten us to day before the Pelishtim? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of Shilo to us, that, when it comes among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies. So the people sent to Shilo, that they might bring from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, who sits upon the keruvim: and the two sons of ῾Eli, Ĥofni and Pineĥas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. And when the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Yisra᾽el shouted with a great shout, so that the earth trembled. And when the Pelishtim heard the noise of the shout, they said, What is the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the Lord was come into the camp. And the Pelishtim were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe to us for there has not been such a thing before now. Woe to us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? these are the gods that smote Miżrayim with all the plagues in the wilderness.

’Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, And bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before Him with burnt-offerings, With calves of a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, With ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?’ It hath been told thee, O man, what is good, And what the LORD doth require of thee: Only to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.

Take thou away from Me the noise of thy songs; And let Me not hear the melody of thy psalteries. But let justice well up as waters, And righteousness as a mighty stream. Did ye bring unto Me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?

There was another incident involving one gentile who came before Shammai and said to Shammai: Convert me on condition that you teach me the entire Torah while I am standing on one foot. Shammai pushed him away with the builder’s cubit in his hand. This was a common measuring stick and Shammai was a builder by trade. The same gentile came before Hillel. He converted him and said to him: That which is hateful to you do not do to another; that is the entire Torah, and the rest is its interpretation. Go study. There was another incident involving one gentile who was passing behind the study hall and heard the voice of a teacher who was teaching Torah to his students and saying the verse: “And these are the garments which they shall make: A breastplate, and an efod, and a robe, and a tunic of checkered work, a mitre, and a girdle” (Exodus 28:4). The gentile said: These garments, for whom are they designated? The students said to him: For the High Priest. The gentile said to himself: I will go and convert so that they will install me as High Priest. He came before Shammai and said to him: Convert me on condition that you install me as High Priest. Shammai pushed him with the builder’s cubit in his hand. He came before Hillel; he converted him.