24 So his servants took him out of the chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had, and brought him to Jerusalem; and he died, and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. 25 Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and all the singing men and singing women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations to this day; and they made them an ordinance in Israel. Behold, they are written in the lamentations. 26 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his good deeds, according to that which is written in the LORD’s law, 27 and his acts, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.
36
1 Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father’s place in Jerusalem. 2 Joahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. 3 The king of Egypt removed him from office at Jerusalem, and fined the land one hundred talents of silver and a talent† of gold. 4 The king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. Neco took Joahaz his brother, and carried him to Egypt.
5 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did that which was evil in the LORD his God’s sight. 6 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him, and bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon. 7 Nebuchadnezzar also carried some of the vessels of the LORD’s house to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon. 8 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and his abominations which he did, and that which was found in him, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah; and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.
9 Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight. 10 At the return of the year, King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, with the valuable vessels of the LORD’s house, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.
11 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. 12 He did that which was evil in the LORD his God’s sight. He didn’t humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the LORD’s mouth. 13 He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God; but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart against turning to the LORD, the God of Israel. 14 Moreover all the chiefs of the priests and the people trespassed very greatly after all the abominations of the nations; and they polluted the LORD’s house which he had made holy in Jerusalem.
15 The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent to them by his messengers, rising up early and sending, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place; 16 but they mocked the messengers of God, despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the LORD’s wrath arose against his people, until there was no remedy.
17 Therefore he brought on 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 infirm. He gave them all into his hand. 18 All the vessels of God’s house, great and small, and the treasures of the LORD’s house, and the treasures of the king and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon. 19 They burnt God’s house, broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burnt all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all of its valuable vessels. 20 He carried those who had escaped from the sword away to Babylon, and they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia, 21 to fulfil the LORD’s word by Jeremiah’s mouth, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. As long as it lay desolate, it kept Sabbath, to fulfil seventy years.
22 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the LORD’s word by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, 23 “Cyrus king of Persia says, ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given all the kingdoms of the earth to me; and he has commanded me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is amongst you of all his people, the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.’ ”
† 1:1: When rendered in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, “LORD” or “GOD” is the translation of God’s Proper Name (Hebrew “יהוה”, usually pronounced Yahweh).
‡ 1:1: The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “אֱלֹהִ֑ים” (Elohim).
§ 1:17: The pieces of silver were probably shekels, so 600 pieces would be about 13.2 pounds or 6 kilograms of silver, and 150 would be about 3.3 pounds or 1.5 kilograms of silver.
† 1:17: or, Aramean
† 2:4: “Behold”, from “הִנֵּה”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.
‡ 2:10: 1 cor is the same as a homer, or about 55.9 U. S. gallons (liquid) or 211 litres or 6 bushels, so 20,000 cors of wheat would weigh about 545 metric tonnes
§ 2:10: 1 bath is one tenth of a cor, or about 5.6 U. S. gallons or 21 litres or 2.4 pecks. 20,000 baths of barley would weigh about 262 metric tonnes.
† 2:13: or, Huram, my father
† 3:3: A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimetres.
‡ 3:8: A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds or 965 Troy ounces, so 600 talents is about 18 metric tonnes
§ 3:9: A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.32 Troy ounces, so 50 shekels was about 0.5 kilograms or about 16 Troy ounces.
† 4:1: A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimetres.
‡ 4:2: or, pool, or, reservoir
§ 4:5: A bath is about 5.6 U. S. gallons or 21.1 litres, so 3,000 baths is about 16,800 gallons or 63.3 kilolitres.
† 4:16: “abi” means “his father”
† 6:13: A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimetres.
† 8:13: or, feast of tents (Sukkot)
‡ 8:18: A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds or 965 Troy ounces, so 450 talents is about 13.5 metric tonnes
† 9:4: or, she was breathless.
‡ 9:9: A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds or 965 Troy ounces, so 120 talents is about 3.6 metric tonnes
§ 9:10: possibly Indian sandalwood, which has nice grain and a pleasant scent and is good for woodworking
† 9:13: A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds or 965 Troy ounces, so 666 talents is about 20 metric tonnes
‡ 9:15: A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.32 Troy ounces, so 600 shekels was about 6 kilograms or about 192 Troy ounces.
§ 9:16: A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.32 Troy ounces, so 300 shekels was about 3 kilograms or about 96 Troy ounces.
† 20:7: or, seed
‡ 20:26: “Beracah” means “blessing”.
† 23:3: Hebrew He
† 25:6: A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds
‡ 25:9: A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds
§ 25:23: A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimetres, so 400 cubits is about 200 yards or 184 metres.
† 27:5: A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds
‡ 27:5: 1 cor is the same as a homer, or about 55.9 U. S. gallons (liquid) or 211 litres or 6 bushels. 10,000 cors of wheat would weigh about 1,640 metric tonnes.
§ 27:5: 10,000 cors of barley would weigh about 1,310 metric tonnes.
† 32:21: i.e., his own sons
† 33:19: or, the seers
† 36:3: A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds or 965 Troy ounces
Ezra
The Book of Ezra
1
1 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the LORD’s† word by Jeremiah’s mouth might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,
2 “Cyrus king of Persia says, ‘The LORD, the God‡ of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he has commanded me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Whoever there is amongst you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD, the God of Israel (he is God), which is in Jerusalem. 4
