麥克謙一年通讀

The Reigns of Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim

¹And the people of the land took Joachaz the son of Josias, and anointed him, and made him king over Jerusalem in the room of his father.

²And Pharao Nechao bound him in Deblatha in the land of Æmath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem.

³And the king brought him over to Egypt; and imposed a tribute on the land, a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

⁴but he had given the silver and the gold to Pharao. At that time the land began to be taxed to give the money at the command of Pharao; and every one as he could borrowed the silver and the gold of the people of the land, to give to Pharao Nechao.

⁵and for the innocent blood which Joakim shed, for he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; yet the Lord would not utterly destroy them.

⁶And Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon came up against him, and bound him with brazen fetters, and carried him away to Babylon.

⁷And he carried away a part of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon, and put them in his temple in Babylon.

⁸And the rest of the acts of Joakim, and all that he did, behold, are not these things written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Juda? And Joakim slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in Ganozae: and Jechonias his son reigned in his stead.

The Reigns of Jehoiachin and Zedekiah

⁹Jechonias was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem, and did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.

¹⁰And at the turn of the year, king Nabuchodonosor sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the precious vessels of the house of the Lord, and made Sedekias his father's brother king over Juda and Jerusalem.

¹¹Sedekias was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.

¹²And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God: he was not ashamed before the prophet Jeremias, nor because of the word of the Lord;

¹³in that he rebelled against king Nabuchodonosor, which he adjured him by God not to do: but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart, so as not to return to the Lord God of Israel.

¹⁴And all the great men of Juda, and the priests, and the people of the land transgressed abundantly in the abominations of the heathen, and polluted the house of the Lord which was in Jerusalem.

¹⁵And the Lord God of their fathers sent by the hand of his prophets; rising early and sending his messengers, for he spared his people, and his sanctuary.

¹⁶Nevertheless they sneered at his messengers, and set at nought his words, and mocked his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose up against his people, till there was no remedy.

The Fall of Jerusalem and the Babylonian Exile

¹⁷And he brought against them the king of the Chaldeans, and slew their young men with the sword in the house of his sanctuary, and did not spare Sedekias, and had no mercy upon their virgins, and they led away their old men: he delivered all things into their hands.

¹⁸And all the vessels of the house of God, the great and the small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and all the treasures of the king and the great men; he brought all to Babylon.

¹⁹And he burnt the house of the Lord, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt its palaces with fire, and utterly destroyed every beautiful vessel.

²⁰And he carried away the remnant to Babylon; and they were servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of the Medes.

²¹That the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremias might be fulfilled, until the land should enjoy its sabbaths in resting and sabbath keeping all the days of its desolation, till the accomplishment of seventy years.

The Decree of Cyrus for the Return

²²In the first year of Cyrus king of the Persians, after the fulfilment of the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremias, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of the Persians, and told him to make proclamation in writing throughout all his kingdom, saying,

²³Thus says Cyrus king of the Persians to all the kingdoms of the earth, The Lord God of heaven has given me power, and he has commanded me to build a house to him in Jerusalem, in Judea. Who is there of you of all his people? his God shall be with him, and let him go up.