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Ezr 4:1-6.
英文原文
Ezr 4:1-6.
THE BUILDING HINDERED.
1. the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin--that is, strangers settled in the land of Israel.
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2. 我们寻求你们的神，与你们一样；自从亚述王以撒哈顿带我们上这地以来，我们常向他献祭——这段经文近来从亚述雕塑中得到一个极有趣的说明。在大英博物馆所藏的一根大圆柱上，刻有以撒哈顿编年史完整而长篇的一份抄本，其中详载了一次大规模将以色列人从巴勒斯坦迁徙、并以巴比伦移民填补其地的记载。这正是本段记述的有力印证。那些亚述移民与残留的以色列女子通婚，他们的后代成为一个混血民族，统称为撒玛利亚人。他们原是拜偶像的，后来受了关乎真神知识的教育，所以能说“我们寻求你们的神”；但他们仍以自己迷信的方式事奉他（参
2Ki 17:26-34, 41）。
英文原文
2. we seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esar-haddon . . . which brought us up hither--A very interesting explanation of this passage has been recently obtained from the Assyrian sculptures. On a large cylinder, deposited in the British Museum, there is inscribed a long and perfect copy of the annals of Esar-haddon, in which the details are given of a large deportation of Israelites from Palestine, and a consequent settlement of Babylonian colonists in their place. It is a striking confirmation of the statement made in this passage. Those Assyrian settlers intermarried with the remnant of Israelite women, and their descendants, a mongrel race, went under the name of Samaritans. Though originally idolaters, they were instructed in the knowledge of God, so that they could say, "We seek your God"; but they served Him in a superstitious way of their own (see on
2Ki 17:26-34, 41).
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3. 但撒拉铁和约书亚……说……我们建造神的殿，与你们无干——这一拒绝与撒玛利亚人合作的举动，无论其动机如何，都被神护理的大权为最终的美善效力；因为倘若两族协同工作，必将发生熟识相交与通婚之事，结果可能是犹太人重新堕入偶像崇拜。更可肯定的是，证明弥赛亚谱系的家谱证据必将随之混乱不明；反之，在两族敌对而分隔的状态下，他们彼此严加留意对方的行为，互相维护圣书的保存与完整，护卫摩西敬拜的纯洁与尊荣，如此便有助于持守宗教的知识与真理。
英文原文
3. But Zerubbabel and Jeshua . . . said . . . Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God--This refusal to co-operate with the Samaritans, from whatever motives it sprang, was overruled by Providence for ultimate good; for, had the two peoples worked together, familiar acquaintanceship and intermarriage would have ensued, and the result might have been a relapse of the Jews into idolatry. Most certainly, confusion and obscurity in the genealogical evidence that proved the descent of the Messiah would have followed; whereas, in their hostile and separate condition, they were jealous observers of each other's proceedings, watching with mutual care over the preservation and integrity of the sacred books, guarding the purity and honor of the Mosaic worship, and thus contributing to the maintenance of religious knowledge and truth.
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4, 5. 那地的民就在犹大人……建造的时候，使他们手发软等——撒玛利亚人因被拒而恼羞成怒，想尽各种办法骚扰工人，阻挠建殿工程的进展；尽管他们不能更改居鲁士所颁布的有关诏令，却借贿赂和秘密的阴谋，在朝廷里不懈活动，企图挫败诏令的效力。他们在这些暗中勾当中颇有所成；因为居鲁士经常外出征战，无暇顾及政务，遂将国政交由其子冈比西斯执掌——此王子为人邪恶，且对犹太人及其宗教极其仇视。在其继任者斯默迪斯在位期间，同样的阴谋仍被勤加施展，直至大流士·希斯塔斯皮斯之时。由于所设置的这些困难与障碍，工程进展极为缓慢，达二十年之久。
英文原文
4, 5. Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, &c.--Exasperated by this repulse, the Samaritans endeavored by every means to molest the workmen as well as obstruct the progress of the building; and, though they could not alter the decree which Cyrus had issued regarding it, yet by bribes and clandestine arts indefatigably plied at court, they labored to frustrate the effects of the edict. Their success in those underhand dealings was great; for Cyrus, being frequently absent and much absorbed in his warlike expeditions, left the government in the hands of his son Cambyses, a wicked prince, and extremely hostile to the Jews and their religion. The same arts were assiduously practised during the reign of his successor, Smerdis, down to the time of Darius Hystaspes. In consequence of the difficulties and obstacles thus interposed, for a period of twenty years, the progress of the work was very slow.
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6. 亚哈随鲁年间，他们上本控告——亚哈随鲁是王号，所指之王乃是大流士的继任者，即著名的薛西斯。
英文原文
6. in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, wrote they . . . an accusation--Ahasuerus was a regal title, and the king referred to was successor of Darius, the famous Xerxes.
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Ezr 4:7-24.
Ezr 4:7-24.
致亚达薛西的信
7. 亚达薛西年间，比施兰等——所列三位官员，据推测是波斯王所任命的副王，管辖幼发拉底河以西隶属帝国的各省。
亚兰语——即亚兰文字，在我们的译本中有时称为迦勒底语。波斯人论及犹太人的诏令和公文中使用此语（参
2Ki 18:26; Isa 36:11）。
他们上书的目的，是要使王留意重建耶路撒冷城墙的不当与危险。他们竭力使王对这事存偏見。
英文原文
Ezr 4:7-24.
LETTER TO ARTAXERXES.
7. in the days of Artaxerxes wrote Bishlam, &c.--The three officers named are supposed to have been deputy governors appointed by the king of Persia over all the provinces subject to his empire west of the Euphrates.
the Syrian tongue--or Aramæan language, called sometimes in our version, Chaldee. This was made use of by the Persians in their decrees and communications relative to the Jews (compare
2Ki 18:26; Isa 36:11).
The object of their letter was to press upon the royal notice the inexpediency and danger of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. They labored hard to prejudice the king's mind against that measure.
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9. 底拿人——所列之民是巴比伦王所派遣、占据十支派领土的移民。“伟大尊贵的亚斯那巴”就是以撒哈顿。西拿基立被杀之后，巴比伦人、米底亚人、亚美尼亚人及其他属国趁机挣脱亚述的枷锁。但以撒哈顿在他执政第三十年收复了巴比伦、平定了其他叛乱属国之后，将其中大批人口迁到撒玛利亚荒废的城中，很可能是作为对其叛乱的惩罚〔HALES〕。
英文原文
9. the Dinaites--The people named were the colonists sent by the Babylonian monarch to occupy the territory of the ten tribes. "The great and noble Asnappar" was Esar-haddon. Immediately after the murder of Sennacherib, the Babylonians, Medes, Armenians, and other tributary people seized the opportunity of throwing off the Assyrian yoke. But Esar-haddon having, in the thirtieth year of his reign, recovered Babylon and subdued the other rebellious dependents, transported numbers of them into the waste cities of Samaria, most probably as a punishment of their revolt [HALES].
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12. 从你那里上到我们这里的犹太人——“犹太人”这个名字在从被掳之地归回之后一般使用，因为归回的被掳之民主要属于犹大和便雅悯两个支派。虽然居鲁士的诏书准许所有愿归者返回——有些以色列人也利用了这个准许——但前往犹大定居的主要还是犹大人。
英文原文
12. the Jews which came up from thee to us--The name "Jews" was generally used after the return from the captivity, because the returning exiles belonged chiefly to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. Although the edict of Cyrus permitted all who chose to return, a permission of which some of the Israelites availed themselves, the great body who went to settle in Judea were the men of Judah.
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13. 贡、赋、税——第一是人头税；第二是财产税；第三是对贸易货物征收的消费税。他们的这封信及其后下令立即停工城墙的诏书，是
Ezr 4:7-23
叙述的唯一主题。如今史家从这段插话中回到
Ezr 4:24
重新接上关于建殿的叙述。
英文原文
13. toll, tribute, and custom--The first was a poll tax; the second was a property tax; the third the excise dues on articles of trade and merchandise. Their letter, and the edict that followed, commanding an immediate cessation of the work at the city walls, form the exclusive subject of narrative at
Ezr 4:7-23.
And now from this digression [the historian] returns at
Ezr 4:24
to resume the thread of his narrative concerning the building of the temple.
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14. 我们既然食御赐的盐——原文作“我们被王宫的盐所腌制”。“食君王的盐”是东方成语，相当于“从他领受俸禄”。
英文原文
14. we have maintenance from the king's palace--literally, "we are salted with the salt of the palace." "Eating a prince's salt" is an Oriental phrase, equivalent to "receiving maintenance from him."
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24. 神殿的工作就停止了——正是这件事，最初引发了犹太人与撒玛利亚人之间强烈的宗教仇视；后来撒玛利亚人在基利心山上建了一座对立的圣殿，更加剧了这种仇恨。
英文原文
24. Then ceased the work of the house of God--It was this occurrence that first gave rise to the strong religious antipathy between the Jews and the Samaritans, which was afterwards greatly aggravated by the erection of a rival temple on Mount Gerizim.
Ezr 4:1-6.
建造之工受阻
1. 犹大和便雅悯的敌人——即定居于以色列地的外邦人。