历代志下 36
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Simplified)
犹大王约哈斯
36 犹大人在耶路撒冷立约西亚的儿子约哈斯接替他父亲做王。 2 约哈斯二十三岁登基，在耶路撒冷执政三个月。 3 埃及王在耶路撒冷废掉他，并要求犹大向埃及进贡三点四吨银子、三十四公斤金子。 4 埃及王另立约哈斯的兄弟以利雅敬为王统治犹大和耶路撒冷，给他改名为约雅敬，并把约哈斯带到埃及。
犹大王约雅敬
5 约雅敬二十五岁登基，在耶路撒冷执政十一年。他做他的上帝耶和华视为恶的事。 6 巴比伦王尼布甲尼撒起兵攻打他，用铜链把他锁着带到巴比伦。 7 尼布甲尼撒把耶和华殿里的一些器皿带到巴比伦，放在他在巴比伦的王宫里[a]。 8 约雅敬其他的事及可憎行径和恶迹都记在以色列和犹大的列王史上。他儿子约雅斤继位。
犹大王约雅斤
9 约雅斤十八岁[b]登基，在耶路撒冷执政三个月零十天。他做耶和华视为恶的事。 10 那年春天，尼布甲尼撒王派人把他和耶和华殿里的贵重器皿一同带到巴比伦。尼布甲尼撒另立约雅斤的叔叔[c]西底迦做犹大和耶路撒冷的王。
犹大王西底迦
11 西底迦二十一岁登基，在耶路撒冷执政十一年。 12 他做他的上帝耶和华视为恶的事，耶利米先知向他传讲耶和华的话，他仍不肯在耶利米面前谦卑下来。
耶路撒冷沦陷
13 尼布甲尼撒曾让他奉上帝的名起誓，他却背叛了尼布甲尼撒。他顽固不化，不肯归向以色列的上帝耶和华。 14 所有祭司长和民众也都仿效外族人的一切可憎行径，犯了大罪，玷污了耶和华在耶路撒冷使之圣洁的殿。 15 他们祖先的上帝耶和华因为怜爱祂的子民和祂的居所，就不断派使者来劝告他们。 16 他们却嘲弄耶和华上帝的使者，藐视祂的话，嘲笑祂的先知，以致祂的愤怒临到祂的子民身上，无可挽救。
17 耶和华使迦勒底人的王起兵攻打他们，在他们的圣殿里用刀击杀他们的壮丁，毫不怜悯少男少女、老人和年高者。耶和华把他们全部交在他的手中。 18 上帝殿里的大小器皿，以及耶和华殿里、王宫里和众官员的所有珍宝，都被他带到巴比伦去了。 19 迦勒底人焚烧上帝的殿，拆毁耶路撒冷的城墙，并且焚烧所有的宫殿，毁坏其中所有珍贵的器皿。 20 没有被杀戮的人都被掳往巴比伦，做他和他子孙的奴隶，直到波斯帝国的时代。 21 这就应验了耶和华借耶利米之口所说的话：这片土地享受了安息，它在荒凉中守安息，直到满了七十年。
塞鲁士王准许被掳之民返国
22 波斯王塞鲁士元年，耶和华为了应验祂借耶利米所说的话，就感动波斯王塞鲁士，使他下诏通告全国： 23 “波斯王塞鲁士如此说，‘天上的上帝耶和华已把天下万国都赐给我，祂吩咐我在犹大的耶路撒冷为祂建造殿宇。你们当中凡属耶和华的子民，都可以去那里。愿你们的上帝耶和华与你们同在！’”
2 Chronicles 36
English Standard Version
Judah's Decline
36 (A)The people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and made him king in his father's place in Jerusalem. 2 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. 3 Then the king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and (B)laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent[a] of gold. 4 And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Jehoahaz his brother and carried him to Egypt.
5 (C)Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. 6 (D)Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon (E)and bound him in chains (F)to take him to Babylon. 7 (G)Nebuchadnezzar also carried part of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon and put them in his palace in Babylon. 8 (H)Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and the abominations that he did, and what was found against him, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.
9 (I)Jehoiachin was eighteen[b] years old when he became king, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. 10 In (J)the spring of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, (K)with the precious vessels of the house of the Lord, and made his brother (L)Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.
11 (M)Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. 12 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. He did not humble himself before (N)Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the Lord. 13 (O)He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. (P)He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord, the God of Israel. 14 All the officers of the priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations. And they polluted the house of the Lord that he had made holy in Jerusalem.
15 The Lord, the God of their fathers, (Q)sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. 16 (R)But they kept mocking the messengers of God, (S)despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, (T)until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy.
Jerusalem Captured and Burned
17 (U)Therefore he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or aged. He gave them all into his hand. 18 (V)And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon. 19 (W)And they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem and burned all its palaces with fire and destroyed all its precious vessels. 20 He (X)took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, (Y)and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, 21 to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had (Z)enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate (AA)it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.
The Proclamation of Cyrus
22 (AB)Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, (AC)that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, (AD)the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: 23 “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God be with him. Let him go up.’”
Footnotes
- 2 Chronicles 36:3 A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms
- 2 Chronicles 36:9 Septuagint (compare 2 Kings 24:8); most Hebrew manuscripts eight
2 Chronicles 36
The Voice
The grand tradition of Israel has such a disappointing ending. Certainly God reveals to Josiah that exile is inevitable, but no one can predict the barrage of incompetent kings who usher in that foreign exile.
36 The Israelites chose Josiah’s son Joahaz, also named Jehoahaz,[a] as his father’s successor in Jerusalem. 2 He was 23 years old when he ascended to the throne, but his reign in Jerusalem only lasted 3 months. 3-5 Neco conquered Israel, deposed Joahaz as the king, exiled him to Egypt, and made Israel a vassal state required to pay 3,750 pounds of silver and 75 pounds of gold annually to Egypt.
The Egyptian king appointed 25-year-old Eliakim, Joahaz’s brother, as acting king of Judah and Jerusalem, changing his name to Jehoiakim. He reigned 11 years in Jerusalem, and he was evil before the Eternal God. 6 Then Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, attacked Israel, carried Jehoiakim bound in bronze chains into exile in Babylon, 7 plundered the Eternal’s temple, and put the temple possessions in his own Babylonian temple. 8-9 The rest of Jehoiakim’s rebellions are recorded in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.
Jehoiachin was only 8 years old when he succeeded his father as king in Jerusalem. He, too, did what the Eternal considered as evil and reigned only 3 months and 10 days. 10 Just after the new year, King Nebuchadnezzar had Jehoiachin exiled to Babylon as well. He also took more valuables from the Eternal’s temple.
Nebuchadnezzar then appointed Zedekiah the Babylonian as acting king of Judah and Jerusalem 11 when he was only 21 years old. He reigned 11 years from Jerusalem 12 and he also did what the Eternal One saw as evil. He refused to listen to the guidance of Jeremiah, who advised the king to humble himself before the Eternal. 13 Furthermore, he rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, to whom he had sworn allegiance in the name of God, 14 then led the rest of the nation to abandon the Eternal One, God of Israel. All the leaders and priests mimicked the other nations, following pagan gods and desecrating the Eternal’s house, which He had sanctified in Jerusalem. 15 Again and again, the Eternal God of their ancestors, because of His compassion for His people and His temple, sent messengers to His people, convicting them of the wrong doings and telling them to return to His ways, 16 but the people mocked the True God’s messengers, hated His messages, and laughed at His prophets. Their actions further infuriated the Eternal, until there was no way to contain His anger.
17 The Eternal empowered the king of the Chaldeans (who were part of the Babylonian Empire) to attack Israel. This army was merciless, sacrificing Israel’s children in their temples and slaughtering everyone else without regard to gender, age, or health. 18-19 They plundered every treasure in the Eternal God’s temple and burned God’s temple to the ground. They stole the king’s and the officers’ possessions, tore down the wall of Jerusalem, burned the fortified buildings, and destroyed anything of value in Jerusalem. 20 Anyone who managed to survive the invasion was exiled to Babylon, where they remained servants of the Babylonian court until it was conquered by the Persian Empire. 21 This exile fulfilled the Eternal’s message through Jeremiah that Israel would lie quietly at rest and be desolate for 70 years to make up for the generations where they did not observe Sabbath.
In spite of the generations of sin and hatred, God does not exile His people permanently. He leaves them with the hope of return to their homeland when He gives Jeremiah that prophecy. And their return is not too far away. In less than two generations, the Jews (as the Israelites become known during the exile) return to the land and rebuild His temple.
22 As soon as Cyrus, the king of Persia, took over the former Babylonian Empire, the Eternal fulfilled His own words (which were relayed by Jeremiah) by compelling Cyrus to send a written proclamation throughout his empire.
Cyrus’ Proclamation: 23 The Eternal, the God of heaven, has decided to give me all the kingdoms of the world to rule as my own. In return for this, He has told me to build Him a new house in Jerusalem of Judah. Any of His people living in my empire may return to Jerusalem of Judah with the help of the Eternal One and True God.
Footnotes
Chinese Contemporary Bible Copyright © 1979, 2005, 2007, 2011 by Biblica® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.