< 2 Chronicles 36 >

1 Then the people of Judah chose Josiah’s son Jehoahaz and appointed him as the king in Jerusalem.
[約阿哈次王朝]當地的人民立了約史雅的兒子約阿哈次在耶路撒冷繼父位為王。
2 Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he became the king, but he ruled from Jerusalem for [only] three months.
約阿哈次登極時二十三歲,在耶路撒冷為王三個月,
3 King Neco of Egypt [captured him and] prevented him from ruling any longer. He also forced the people of Judah to pay him a tax of almost four tons of silver and about 75 pounds of gold.
因為埃及王在耶路撒冷廢了他,且要那地方納一百「塔冷通」銀子,一「塔冷通」金子的罰款。
4 The king of Egypt appointed Jehoahaz’s [younger] brother Eliakim to be the king of Judah. He changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. After Neco captured Jehoahaz, he took him to Egypt.
以後,埃及王立了他的兄弟厄里雅金為猶大和耶路撒冷王,給他改名叫約雅金;乃苛將他的兄弟約阿哈次帶到埃及去了。[約雅金王朝]
5 Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he became the king [of Judah], and he ruled from Jerusalem for 11 years. He did things that Yahweh his God considers to be evil.
約雅金登極時年二十五歲,在耶路撒冷為王凡十一年。他行了上主視為惡的事。
6 Then the army of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked Jehoiakim’s army. They [captured Jehoiakim and] bound him with bronze chains and took him to Babylon.
巴比倫王拿步高前來攻擊他,用銅鏈將他綑住,帶往巴比倫。
7 Nebuchadnezzar’s soldiers also took valuable things from the temple; they took them to Babylon and put them in king [Nebuchadnezzar’s] palace there.
拿步高也將上主殿內一部份器皿帶到巴比倫,安置在巴比倫他的神廟裏。
8 A record of the other things that happened while Jehoiakim was ruling, the detestable things that he did, including the evil things that people said that he did, is written in the scroll called ‘The History of the Kings of Israel and Judah’. After [he was taken to Babylon], his son Jehoiachin became the king [of Judah].
約雅金其餘的事蹟,以及他所行的醜惡,和他遭遇的一切,都記載在以色列和猶大列王實錄上。他的兒子耶苛尼雅繼位為王。耶苛尼雅王朝
9 Jehoiachin was 18 years old when he became the king [of Judah], and he ruled from Jerusalem for [only] three months and ten days. He did things that Yahweh considers to be evil.
耶苛尼雅即位時年十八歲,在耶路撒冷作王三個月又十天。他行了上主視為惡的事。
10 During the spring of the next year, King Nebuchadnezzar sent [soldiers] to bring him to Babylon. They also took to Babylon many valuable things from the temple of Yahweh. Then Nebuchadnezzar appointed Jehoiachin’s uncle, Zedekiah, to be the king of Judah.
次年歲首,拿步高派人來,將耶苛尼雅和上主殿內的珍器,帶往巴比倫,立了他的叔父漆德克雅為王,管理猶大和耶路撒冷。[猶大滅亡]
11 Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became the king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for 11 years.
漆德克雅登極時年二十一歲,在耶路撒冷為王凡十一年。
12 He did many things that Yahweh his God considered to be evil. And he did not humble himself when the prophet Jeremiah gave him a message from Yahweh [to warn him].
他行了上主視為惡的事,雖然先知耶肋米亞奉上主的命來勸勉他,他仍不在耶肋米亞面前自謙自卑。
13 He would not return to Yahweh, the God that the people of Israel [said that they worshiped]. Zedekiah also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had forced him to solemnly promise using God’s name [to be loyal to him]. Zedekiah became very stubborn.
拿步高王雖曾叫他指著天主起誓,他仍背叛了拿步高;更加執拗頑固,總不肯歸依上主,以色列的天主。
14 Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and also the people [of Judah] became more wicked again, doing all the detestable things that the people of the other nations did, and causing the temple in Jerusalem that Yahweh had caused to be holy to become [an] unacceptable [place to worship him].
此外,所有的司祭首長和百姓罪上加罪,仿傚了異族所行的一切醜惡之事,污辱了上主在耶路撒冷祝聖的殿宇。
15 Yahweh, the God whom the ancestors [of the people of Judah belonged to/worshiped], gave messages to his prophets many times, and the prophets told those messages to the people of Judah. Yahweh did that because he pitied his people and did not want his temple to be destroyed.
上主他們祖先的天主,由於愛惜自己的百姓和自己的居所,時常不斷派遣使者警戒他們;
16 But the people continually made fun of God’s messengers. They despised God’s messages. They ridiculed his prophets, until finally God became extremely angry with his people, with the result that nothing could stop him [from destroying Judah].
無奈他們都嘲笑了天主的使者,輕視了他的勸告,譏笑了他的先知,致使上主的怒火發洩在他的百姓身上,直到無法救治。
17 He incited the king of Babylonia to attack [Judah with his army]. They killed the young men with their swords, even in the temple. They did not spare/pity anyone, young men or young women or old people. God enabled the army of Nebuchadnezzar to kill all of them.
因此,上主使加色丁人的君王前來攻打他們,用刀將他們的壯丁在聖殿裏殺死,沒有憐恤他們的幼男少女,以及白髮耆老;上主將所有的人都交在敵人手中。
18 His soldiers took to Babylon all the things that were used in God’s temple—big things and little things, all the valuable things, and the valuable things that belonged to the king and his officials.
加色丁人王又將天主殿內所有的大小器皿,上主殿內的寶物,君王和朝臣的寶物,都帶往巴比倫,
19 They burned the temple, and they broke down the wall surrounding Jerusalem. They burned all the palaces [in Jerusalem] and destroyed all the remaining valuable things there.
焚毀了上主的殿宇,拆壞了耶路撒冷的城牆,燒了城中所有的宮殿,毀壞了城內一切珍貴的器皿;
20 Nebuchadnezzar’s soldiers took to Babylon the remaining people who had not been killed with their swords. Then those people became the king’s slaves and his son’s slaves, until the [army of the] king of Persia conquered [the army of Babylonia].
凡免於刀下的人,都被擄到巴比倫去,作他及他子孫的奴僕,直到波斯帝國興起。
21 [Moses had said that every seventh year the people must not plant their fields; they must allow the soil to rest. But the people had not done that. So after the army of Babylonia destroyed Judah, ] the soil was allowed to rest. That continued for 70 years, fulfilling what Yahweh told Jeremiah and what Jeremiah had predicted/prophesied would happen.
這樣,就應驗了上主藉耶肋米亞的口所說的話:「直到這地域補享了它的安息年,應該在荒蕪期中獲享安息,直到七十年。」[居魯士頒發上諭]
22 During the first year that Cyrus was the king of Persia, in order that what Yahweh told Jeremiah would happen would occur, Yahweh motivated Cyrus to write this and proclaim it throughout his kingdom:
波斯王居魯士元年,為應驗上主藉耶肋米加的口所說的話,上主感動了波斯王居魯士的心,叫他出一道號令,向全國頒發上諭說:「
23 “I, Cyrus, the king of Persia, declare that Yahweh, the God [who rules] in heaven, has enabled me to become the ruler of all the kingdoms of this world. And he wants me to [command that my workers] build a temple {a temple be built} for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Any of his people living among you people of Persia are allowed to go to Jerusalem. And I will pray that Yahweh will be with them.”
波思王居魯士這樣說:上主的神「雅威,」將地上萬國交給了我,囑咐我在猶大的耶路撒冷為他建築一座殿宇,你們中間凡作他子民的,可以上去;願他的神與他同在! 」

< 2 Chronicles 36 >