The reigns of Joachaz, Joakim, Joachin, and Sedecias: the captivity of Babylon released at length by Cyrus.
Ioachaz reigneth three monethes. 4. His brother Eliakim (named loakim) eleuen yeares, 9. his sonne Ioachin three monethes, 11. his vncle Sedecias eleuen yeares. 14. Most Priestes, and people contemning the admonitions of Prophetes, 17. manie are slaine by the Chaldees, the Temple and Ierusalem spo led and burnt. 20. The sayd kinges successiuely, and people are caryed captiue into Babylon. 22. After seuentie yeares Cyrus king of Persia, releaseth the captiuitie, and geueth leaue to reedifie the Temple.
1Then the people of the land took Joachaz the son of Josias, and made him king instead of his father in Jerusalem.Allora il popolo prese Joachaz figliuolo di Josia, e lo dichiarò successore del padre suo nel regno in Gerusalemme.THE people therfore of the land tooke Ioachaz the sonne of Iosias, and made him king for his father in IerusalemTulit ergo populus terræ Joachaz filium Josiæ, et constituit regem pro patre suo in Jerusalem. 2Joachaz was three and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.Ventitre anni avea Joachaz quando principiò a regnare, e regnò tre mesi in Gerusalemme.Taree and twentie yeares old was Ioachaz, when he began to reigne, and he reigned three monethes in Ierusalem.Viginti trium annorum erat Joachaz cum regnare cœpisset, et tribus mensibus regnavit in Jerusalem. 3And the king of Egypt came to Jerusalem, and deposed him, and condemned the land in a hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.Perocché il re d'Egitto venuto a Gerusalemme lo depose, e condanno il paese a cento talenti d'argento, e uno d'oro.And the king of Aegypt when he came into Ierusalem, deposed him, and condemned the land in an hundred talentes of siluer, and a talent of gold.Amovit autem eum rex Ægypti cum venisset in Jerusalem, et condemnavit terram centum talentis argenti, et talento auri. 4And he made Eliakim his brother king in his stead, over Juda and Jerusalem: and he turned his name to Joakim: but he took Joachaz with him and carried him away into Egypt.E fece in luogo di lui Eliakim suo fratello re di Gerusalemme, e di Giuda; e gli cambiò il nome in quel di Joakim: e prese seco Joachaz, e lo condusse in Egitto.And he made Eliakim his brother king for him, ouer Iuda and Ierusalem: and he turned his name Ioakim: but he tooke Ioachaz himself with him, and caried him away into Aegypt.Constituitque pro eo regem Eliakim fratrem ejus super Judam et Jerusalem, et vertit nomen ejus Joakim: ipsum vero Joachaz tulit secum, et abduxit in Ægyptum. 5Joakim was five and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did evil before the Lord his God.Venticinque anni avea Joakim quando principiò a regnare, e undici anni regnò in Gerusalemme: e fece il male nel cospetto del Signore Dio suo.Fiue and twentie yeares old was Ioakim when he began to reigne, and he reigned eleuen yeares in Ierusalem: and he did euil before our Lord his God.Viginti quinque annorum erat Joakim cum regnare cœpisset, et undecim annis regnavit in Jerusalem: fecitque malum coram Domino Deo suo.
6Against him came up Nabuchodonosor king of the Chaldeans, and led him bound in chains into Babylon.Contro di lui si mosse Nabucodònosor re de' Caldei, e lo condusse incatenato a Babilonia,Agaynst him came vp Nabuchodonosor the king of the Chaldees, and brought him bound in chaynes into Babylon.Contra hunc ascendit Nabuchodonosor rex Chaldæorum, et vinctum catenis duxit in Babylonem. 7And he carried also thither the vessels of the Lord, and put them in his temple.Dove trasportò anche i vasi del Signore, e li collocò nel suo tempio.Whither he transported also the vessels of our Lord, and put them in his temple.Ad quam et vasa Domini transtulit, et posuit ea in templo suo. 8But the rest of the acts of Joakim, and his abominations, which he wrought, and the things that were found in him, are contained in the book of the kings of Juda and Israel. And Joachin his son reigned in his stead.Il rimanente poi delle azioni di Joakim, e le abominazioni, che ei commise, e che furono in lui, sono descritte nel libro dei re di Giuda, e d'Israele. E gli succedette nel regno Joachin suo figliuolo.But the rest of the wordes of Ioakim, and of his abominations, which he wrought, and the thinges that were found in him, are contayned in the Booke of the kinges of Iuda and Israel. And Ioachin his sonne reigned for him.Reliqua autem verborum Joakim, et abominationum ejus quas operatus est, et quæ inventa sunt in eo, continentur in libro regum Juda et Israël. Regnavit autem Joachin filius ejus pro eo. 9Joachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord.Otto anni avea Joachin quando cominciò a regnare, e regnò tre mesi, e dieci giorni in Gerusalemme: e fece il male nel cospetto del Signore.Eight yeares old was Ioachin when he began to reigne, and he reigned three monethes and ten dayes in Ierusalem, and he did euil in the sight of our Lord.Octo annorum erat Joachin cum regnare cœpisset, et tribus mensibus ac decem diebus regnavit in Jerusalem: fecitque malum in conspectu Domini. 10And at the return of the year, king Nabuchodonosor sent, and brought him to Babylon, carrying away at the same time the most precious vessels of the house of the Lord: and he made Sedecias his uncle king over Juda and Jerusalem.E alla fine dell'anno il re Nabucodònosor mandò gente a prenderlo, e condurlo a Babilonia, trasportando anche i vasi più preziosi della casa del Signore. E fece re di Giuda, e di Gerusalemme Sedecia suo zio da canto di padre.And when the compasse of a yeare was come about, Nabuchodonosor the king sent some, that brought him in to Babylon, the most precious vessels of the house of our Lord being caried away withal: But he made Sedecias his vncle king ouer Iuda and Ierusalem.Cumque anni circulus volveretur, misit Nabuchodonosor rex, qui adduxerunt eum in Babylonem, asportatis simul pretiosissimis vasis domus Domini. Regem vero constituit Sedeciam patruum ejus super Judam et Jerusalem.
11Sedecias was one and twenty years old when he began to reign: and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.Ventun anno avea Sedecia quando cominciò a regnare, e undici anni regnò in Gerusalemme.One & twentie yeares old was Sedecias when he began to reigne: & he reigned eleuen yeares in Ierusalem.Viginti et unius anni erat Sedecias cum regnare cœpisset, et undecim annis regnavit in Jerusalem: 12And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord his God, and did not reverence the face of Jeremias the prophet speaking to him from the mouth of the Lord.E fece il male nel cospetto del Signore Dio suo, e non ebbe rispetto per Geremia Profeta, il quale gli parlava da parte del Signore.And he did euil in the eies of our Lord his God, neither did he reuerence the face of Ieremie the prophet speaking to him from the mouth of our Lordfecitque malum in oculis Domini Dei sui, nec erubuit faciem Jeremiæ prophetæ, loquentis ad se ex ore Domini. 13He also revolted from king Nabuchodonosor, who had made him swear by God: and he hardened his neck and his heart, from returning to the Lord the God of Israel.E si ribellò eziandio dal re Nabucodònosor, il quale gli avea fatto prestar giuramento nel nome di Dio: e indurò la sua cervice, e il suo cuore a segno di non tornare mai più al Signore Dio d'Israele.He reuolted also from king Nabuchodonosor, who had adiured him by God: & he hardened his necke & his hart, that he would not returne to our Lord the God of Israel.A rege quoque Nabuchodonosor recessit, qui adjuraverat eum per Deum: et induravit cervicem suam et cor ut non reverteretur ad Dominum Deum Israël. 14Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people wickedly transgressed according to all the abominations of the Gentiles: and they defiled the house of the Lord, which he had sanctified to himself in Jerusalem.Oltre a ciò tutti quanti i principi de' sacerdoti, e il popolo prevaricarono iniquamente, imitando tutte le abominazioni delle genti, e contaminarono la casa del Signore, la quale egli avea santificata per se in Gerusalemme.Yea & al the chiefe of the Priestes, and the people transgresled vnlawfully according to al the abominations of the Gentiles: and they polluted the house of our Lord, which he had sanctified to him in Ierusalem.Sed et universi principes sacerdotum et populus prævaricati sunt inique juxta universas abominationes gentium, et polluerunt domum Domini quam sanctificaverat sibi in Jerusalem. 15And the Lord the God of their fathers sent to them, by the hand of his messengers, rising early, and daily admonishing them: because he spared his people and his dwelling place.E il Signore Dio de' padri loro faceva parlare ad essi per mezzo de'suoi ambasciadori, per tempo ammonendogli ogni giorno: perchè ei volea perdonare al suo popolo, e alla sua magione.And our Lord the God of their fathers sent to them, by the hand of his messengers, rysing by night, and daily admonishing them: for that he spared his people and his habitation.Mittebat autem Dominus Deus patrum suorum ad illos per manum nuntiorum suorum de nocte consurgens, et quotidie commonens: eo quod parceret populo et habitaculo suo.
16But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused the prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, and there was no remedy.Ma quelli si facevan beffe degli ambasciadori di Dio, e mettevano in non cale le sue parole, e straziavano i profeti, sino a tanto che il furor del Signore piombò sopra il suo popolo, e non fu più luogo a medicina.But they mocked the messengers of God, and litle estemed his wordes, and scorned the prophetes, vntil the furie of our Lord ascended vpon his people, and there was no amendment.At illi subsannabant nuntios Dei, et parvipendebant sermones ejus, illudebantque prophetis, donec ascenderet furor Domini in populum ejus, et esset nulla curatio. 17For he brought upon them the king of the Chaldeans, and he slew their young men with the sword in the house of his sanctuary, he had no compassion on young man, or maiden, old man or even him that stooped for age, but he delivered them all into his hands.Perocché egli fece venir sopra di loro il re de' Caldei, il quale fece morir di spada la loro gioventù nella casa del suo Santuario: ei non ebbe pietà del giovinetto, né della vergine, né del vecchio, né dell'uom decrepito, ma tutti li diede in potere di lui.For he brought vpon them the king of the Chaldees, and slewe their yong men with the sword in the house of his sanctuarie, he pitied not yong man, and virgin, and old man, no neither him that stouped for age, but he deliuered al into his handes.Adduxit enim super eos regem Chaldæorum, et interfecit juvenes eorum gladio in domo sanctuarii sui: non est misertus adolescentis, et virginis, et senis, nec decrepiti quidem, sed omnes tradidit in manibus ejus. 18And all the vessels of the house of Lord, great and small, and the treasures of the temple and of the king, and of the princes he carried away to Babylon.Ed egli trasportò a Babilonia tutti i vasi della magion del Signore tanto i grandi, come i piccoli, e tutti i tesori del tempio, e del re, e dei grandi.And al the vessels of the house of our Lord, as wel greater as lesser, and the treasures of the temple, and of the king, and the princes he transported into Babylon.Universaque vasa domus Domini, tam majora quam minora, et thesauros templi, et regis, et principum, transtulit in Babylonem. 19And the enemies set fire to the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burnt all the towers, and what soever was precious they destroyed.I nemici incendiarono la casa di Dio, e atterraron le mura di Gerusalemme, e abbruciaron tutte le torri, e distrussero tutto quel, che vi era diThe enemies set fyre on the house of God, and destroyed the wal of Ierusalem, al the towres they burnt, and what soeuer was pretious, they destroyed.Incenderunt hostes domum Dei, destruxeruntque murum Jerusalem: universas turres combusserunt, et quidquid pretiosum fuerat, demoliti sunt.
20Whosoever escaped the sword, was led into Babylon, and there served the king and his sons, till the reign of the king of Persia,Chi potè scampare dalla spada, era condotto a Babilonia per servire ai re, e a' suoi figliuoli, sino al tempo, in cui ebbe l'impero il re di Persia,If anie man escaped the sword, being led into Babylon he serued the king and his sonnes, til the king of the Persians reigned.Si quis evaserat gladium, ductus in Babylonem servivit regi et filiis ejus, donec imperaret rex Persarum, 21That the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremias might be fulfilled, and the land might keep her sabbaths: for all the days of the desolation she kept a sabbath, till the seventy years were expired.E sino a tanto che non ebbe compimento la parola di Dio pronunziata da Geremia, e non ebbe la terra celebrati i suoi sabati: imperocché per tutto il tempo di sua desolazione ella fece il sabato, finché non furon compiti i settanta anni.That the word of our Lord by the mouth of Ieremie might be accomplished, and the land might celebrate their Sabbathes: for al the daies of the desolation she kept a Sabbath, til the seuentie yeares were expyred.et compleretur sermo Domini ex ore Jeremiæ, et celebraret terra sabbata sua: cunctis enim diebus desolationis egit sabbatum usque dum complerentur septuaginta anni. 22But in the first year of Cyrus king of the Persians, to fulfil the word of the Lord, which he had spoken by the mouth of Jeremias, the Lord stirred up the heart of Cyrus, king of the Persians: who commanded it to be proclaimed through all his kingdom, and by writing also, saying:Ma l'anno primo di Ciro re di Persia, affinchè si adempisse la parola del Signore pronunziata per bocca di Geremia, il Signore mosse l'animo di Ciro re di Persia, il quale ordinò che si pubblicasse per tutto il suo regno anche per iscritto, questo decreto:But in the first yeare of Cyrus king of Persians, to fulfil the word of our Lord, which he had spoken by the mouth of Ieremie, our Lord raysed vp the spirit of Cyrus king of the Persians: who commanded to be proclaymed in al his kingdom, yea by writing, saying:Anno autem primo Cyri regis Persarum, ad explendum sermonem Domini quem locutus fuerat per os Jeremiæ, suscitavit Dominus spiritum Cyri regis Persarum: qui jussit prædicari in universo regno suo, etiam per scripturam, dicens: 23Thus saith Cyrus king of the Persians: All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord the God of heaven given to me, and he hath charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judea: who is there among you of all his people? The Lord his God be with him, and let him go up.Ciro re di Persia dice così: Il Signore Dio del cielo ha dato a me tutti i regni della terra, ed egli mi ha comandato di edificare a lui una casa in Gerusalemme, che è nella Giudea: chi tra voi appartiene al suo popolo? Il Signore Dio suo sia con lui, ed ei si metta in viaggioThus sayth Cyrus king of the Persians: Al kingdomes of the earth hath the Lord the God of heauen geuen me, and he hath commanded me that I should build him a house in Ierusalem, which is in Iewrie: who of you is there in al his people? The Lord his God be with him, and let him goe vp.Hæc dicit Cyrus rex Persarum: Omnia regna terræ dedit mihi Dominus Deus cæli, et ipse præcepit mihi ut ædificarem ei domum in Jerusalem, quæ est in Judæa: quis ex vobis est in omni populo ejus ? sit Dominus Deis suus cum eo, et ascendat.
36:1
Year of the World 3394, Year before Christ 610.
36:3
36:4
Worthington
Brother. From the time of David, the son had always succeeded his father. (Worthington)
36:6
Babylon, but sent him back soon after; (Tirinus) unless he altered his first design, (Du Hamel) and slew him disgracefully at Jerusalem. (Lyranus) (Estius) (Calmet) (4 Kings 23:5.)
Usher
He allowed him to reign as a vassal other three years, but took Daniel, etc., captives. The seventy years of Jeremias, (xxv. 11.) are to be dated from this event. (The year of the world 3402.) (Usher)
36:7
The vessels. Hebrew and Septuagint, "a part of the vessels;" probably the most precious, (ver. 10) breaking the rest in pieces, as he left none behind, ver. 18.
Temple of his God, Daniel 1:2.
36:8
Denis the Carthusian
In him. The Jews explain this of the diabolical characters forbidden, Leviticus 19:28. (Denis the Carthusian; R. Sal., etc.)
36:9
Challoner
Eight years old. He was associated by his father to the kingdom, when he was but eight years old; but after his father's death, when he reigned alone, he was eighteen years old, 4 Kings 24:8. (Challoner)
Tirinus
He only enjoyed the throne three months and ten days. (Tirinus)
Calmet
We must however observe, (Haydock) that the Alexandrian Septuagint, the Syriac, and Arabic read here, eighteen. (Calmet)
Kennicott
"It is, in my opinion, a pity that the translators have not mended such apparent errata of the scribe of the present Hebrew out of 2 Kings 24:8., or out of Septuagint, or out of common sense." (Wall) (Kennicott)
Du Hamel
These eight years may be dated from the captivity, and not from the king's birth. (Usher) (Du Hamel)
36:10
Calmet
Year, in spring, when kings go out to war. (Calmet)
Calmet
Uncle. Septuagint, "brother of his father," which comes to the same sense, and was certainly the case. Hebrew, "his brother." Abraham indeed gives the title to his nephew, Genesis 13:8. (Calmet)
36:13
Year of the World 3405, Year before Christ 599.
Tirinus
By God, to be faithful. (Tirinus)
Calmet
This enhances his crime. (Calmet)
36:15
Haydock
Early. Protestants, "betimes, and sending: because," etc. (Haydock)
Calmet
Like a good master, God (Tirinus) sent his servants to work at day-break, (Haydock) omitting nothing to induce them to return to him, that he might not be forced to punish them with severity. (Calmet)
36:16
Calmet
Remedy. All attempts to convert them proved in vain; (Tirinus) and God, perceiving that they even despised his calls, became inexorable. (Calmet)
36:18
Calmet
Vessels. Only a few remained, to be restored by Cyrus, ver. 19. (Calmet)
36:20
Sons; Evilmerodac and Baltassar.
Persia; Cyrus, who subdued the country.
36:21
Sabbaths, every seventh year, Leviticus 25:2., and 26:43., and Jeremias 25:11., and 29:10.
Calmet
Expired: not that the earth was quite neglected, all that time, from the third year of Joakim, the year of the world 3398 till 3468. (Calmet)
Haydock
But it was almost: particularly after the murder of Godolias, (Menochius) the public worship was at a stand, etc. (Haydock)
Haydock
During this fifth age, the true religion subsisted invariable, not only in the kingdom of Juda, but also in that of Israel. See Worthington. (Haydock)
36:22
Year of the World 3468, A.C. 536.
Calmet
First. Cyrus had ruled over Persia from the year of the world 3444. He was now emperor of the East. (The year of the world 3468.) (Calmet)
Worthington
These two verses are repeated by Esdras, which evinces that he was the author of this work also, (Tirinus) adding them when he restored (Worthington) or revised (Haydock) the holy scriptures. (Worthington)
36:23
Haydock
The Lord, (Jehova.) In Esdras we find yehi, "Let," his God. (Haydock)
Haydock
Up. The sentence is completed in the following book, which makes it probable that these verses are here inserted improperly, by some transcriber. The book of Chronicles, though for many ages the last in the Hebrew manuscripts, was, perhaps, once followed by Ezra, as in Camb. Manuscript 1., (Kennicott) and as it is now in the Protestant version, taken from the Hebrew. (Haydock)
36:9
Eight years old.... He was associated by his father to the kingdom, when he was but eight years old; but after his father’s death, when he reigned alone, he was eighteen years old. 4 Kings 24.8.
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THE FIRST BOOK OF ESDRAS
36:4
Hitherto from K. Danids death the sonne had euer succeded to his father.
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••re. 25.
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It is like that Esdras added this cōclusion when he restored the holie Scriptures that were lost. for he beginneth his owne booke with the same wordes. The end of the fifth age.
36:7
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 2.17
… Hast thou not heard that he brake in pieces the Cherubim? I do not mean the invisible beings;—away with such a thought, O man ,—but the sculptured images, and the mercy-seat, in the midst of which God spake with His voice . The veil of the Sanctuary he trampled under foot: the altar of incense he took and carried away to an idol-temple
36:6
6. AND BOUND (JOAKIM) WITH CHAINS HE LED INTO BABYLON, — namely in the third year of the reign of Joakim, settling his affairs in Babylon, and renewing the covenant with him, and promising the customary tribute, he was released by him free in Jerusalem, where in the eleventh year of his reign rebelling again, he was killed by the Chaldeans, as I said in Jerem. XXII, 19.
36:8
8. And which things were found in him. — Lyranus, Abulensis, Questions XXXIX in cap. xxv lib. IV Kings, Vatablus, the Master of the Scholastic History, Pererius, lib. 1 in Danielem, at the beginning, and others from the Hebrews relate that in the corpse of this king were found certain marks impressed, and certain stigmata burned in honor of their gods, of whom he himself while still living professed himself to be a stigmatized servant. What is more wretched and more unfortunate than a king crowned with a diadem to have so abased himself as to become a stigmatized slave of the devil? But on the contrary the Divine Paul: "For the rest," he says, "let no man be troublesome to me; for I bear the stigmata of the Lord Jesus in my body," Gal. vi, 17.
36:9
9. JOACHIN WAS EIGHT YEARS OLD WHEN HE BEGAN TO REIGN, — namely with his father Joakim, who in the second year of his reign made his eight-year-old son Joachin king and took him as a partner in the kingdom, and thus reigned with him for ten years. The reason was that he feared, if anything should happen to him by human chance, Sedeciah would seize the kingdom, excluding the boy Joachin. For even then he seemed to be meditating rebellion, so as to free himself from the yoke of the Chaldeans; which he did in the third year of his reign, and therefore in that same year he was carried off by the Chaldeans into Babylon; whence then succeeded him his son Joachin, nine or ten years old: but his father Joakim, having settled affairs in Babylon, immediately returned, and reigned with his son for another eight years: when these were completed, in the eleventh year of his reign, rebelling again, he was killed by the Chaldeans: whence then his son Joachin, who was now eighteen years old, succeeded him, reigning by full and complete right, and reigned for only three months, when these were completed he too was carried off into Babylon by the Chaldeans, who set up Sedeciah his uncle in his place. Thus Abulensis, Salianus, Torniellus and others.
36:10
10. WHEN THE YEAR'S CIRCLE TURNED. — In Hebrew, in the revolution of the year; namely when, the running year ending or having ended, a new year began from the month Nisan, that is to say, when the running year was drawing to an end, or at the end of the year Joachin was carried off into Babylon, which was in the third month of his reign: for he himself began to reign not at the beginning of the year, but three months before the end of the year, for example in November or December. For the Hebrews began the year from Nisan, that is March.
36:13
13. WHO HAD SWORN HIM BY GOD, — that he should keep the faith given to him and the promised subjection, threatening him with the vengeance of God the judge, if he should violate it; and therefore instead of "Mattaniah," he called him "Sedeciah," that is, the justice of God, so that he might always keep him mindful of this, IV Kings xxiv, 17.
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15. RISING IN THE NIGHT. — In Hebrew, manicando, that is in the morning, early, diligently he admonished them, like a good father of a household, who in the morning instructs his servants and directs them to their daily work. BECAUSE HE WOULD SPARE (that is because he wished to spare and most earnestly desired to spare) THE PEOPLE; — but since they despised the warnings of God, he did not spare them, and delivered them to the Chaldeans to be laid waste.
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16. AND THERE WAS NO HEALING, — that is to say, And there was no hope of healing and amendment of life, because the Jews were hardened in idolatry and their crimes.
36:21
21. AND THE LAND SHALL KEEP HER SABBATHS, — that is, it shall be idle and rest from ploughing, by which it is furrowed, harrowed, sown, reaped, etc., by which the land is accustomed to be agitated and as it were vexed. FOR ALL THE DAYS OF THE DESOLATION IT KEPT SABBATH, — that is, uncultivated it rested, performing as it were the leisure of sabbath. The Hebrews note that the Jews violated the feast of the sabbath, and profaned it by servile and illicit works, and therefore God in punishment removed them from Judæa, so that the land itself might keep sabbath for itself denied by the Jews through 70 years. UNTIL THE SEVENTY YEARS WERE FULFILLED. — Why were the years of the captivity of the Jews in Babylon 70, not 80, not 90, not a hundred? Theodoretus gives the cause, Leviticus chapter xxvi, 34, to those words: "The land shall enjoy her sabbaths all the days of the desolation thereof, because it did not rest in your sabbaths when you dwelt in it." For thus he says: "Seventy years they served in Babylon; but from the kingdom of Saul unto the captivity are numbered 490 years, of which the seventh part makes seventy. This therefore he wishes to say: Seventy years the land shall remain uncultivated and unsown, you dwelling in a foreign land, because together with the rest you also transgressed the precept of sabbaths," as if to say: The land of Judæa according to the law could not be ploughed in the seventh year, but rested and performed its "sabbath," that is leisure and rest, which because you (many of you), O Jews, took from it out of avarice, ploughing it in the seventh year so that you might reap the fruits, therefore God will restore to it the rest owed to it in 70 years of your captivity, in which it, destitute of its cultivators, shall rest: for you took away 70 sabbaths from it, therefore God will restore to it as many. For in 490 years which from the beginning of the kingdom of Saul (if we grant him twenty years, and another twenty to Samuel, which joined together make 40, of which Acts xiii, 21), down to the last year of Zedekiah extended, there likewise flowed 70 sabbaths of the land: for the land in every seventh year demanded its sabbath by law. For the seventh year recurs seventy times in 490 years: for if you multiply 70 by 7, you will find 490. The same cause is insinuated here when it is said: "And the land shall keep her sabbaths: for all the days of the desolation it kept sabbath until the seventy years were fulfilled." Again, the Hebrews by their various and many crimes contaminated Judæa, which was a holy land for 490 years: whence God could have imposed upon them as many years of penance and captivity; but he was unwilling, and lessened the punishment; so that from seven years he assigned to them only one of penance, in which likewise the land would keep sabbath: wherefore he gave them 70 years of captivity: for these are contained seven times in 490, so that by these 70 years the land resting and as it were keeping sabbath, might be expiated from the crimes of 490 years committed in it by the Jews, and especially from idolatry, which in it long endured, but for 70 years more keenly and ardently flourished. Another literal cause was that the monarchy of the Chaldæans lasted for 70 years; but the Chaldæans were the enemies of the Jews and the scourges of God who had removed them into Babylon, and there during the whole time of their monarchy detained them: which being ended in the year 70, Cyrus arose, the enemy of the Chaldæans and friend of the Jews, who overthrew the Chaldæans, and transferred the monarchy to the Persians, and therefore freed the Jews from Babylon. Again, these 70 years of desolation correspond to the 70 weeks of Daniel chapter ix, which being completed, Christ was to come, of whom Cyrus was a type, who would free them from the servitude of sin and the devil, and restore them to the heavenly Jerusalem. The first and principal cause was the will of God thus decreeing, and the abyss of His profound judgments. This cause is given by Esdras, book IV, chapter iii, where he relates that in the thirtieth year of the desolation of Jerusalem in Babylon he complained before God, asking why He kept His faithful Jews captive in Babylon for so long, and among other things he said to God in verse 27: "Thou hast delivered thy city into the hands of thy enemies. Do they that dwell in Babylon do better, and therefore shall Sion be ruled?" And again: "And it came to pass when I came hither, and saw impieties without number, and my soul hath seen many that sin this thirtieth year." And that the Angel Uriel answered him in chapter IV, and said: "Go, weigh me the weight of fire, and measure me the measure of the wind, or call back to me the day that is past." When Esdras said this could not be done, the Angel presses on: "If," he says, "I should ask thee how many are the habitations in the heart of the sea, or what are the veins in the beginning of the abyss," from which namely the waters flow forth without ceasing, or the veins of rains in heaven, "or what are the exits of paradise, thou wouldst perhaps say to me: I have not descended into the abyss, nor yet gone down into hell, nor ever ascended into heaven. But now I have asked thee only concerning the fire, and the wind and the day by which thou hast passed, and from which thou canst not be separated, and thou hast not answered me concerning these, and how canst thou comprehend the ways of the Most High?" The tropological cause was that which St. Jerome gives, Jeremiah xxix, 10, that the number seventy is a symbol of penance, which we ought to do throughout this whole life, that we may attain to heavenly glory. For, as it is said in Psalm LXXXIX: "The days of our years in them are threescore and ten years." Hence also the Church, from Septuagesima commemorating the fall of Adam and his posterity, begins the time of mourning and penance. Finally, God willed that in seventy years all the elders of the Jews, accustomed to their vices and grown old in them, should die, and a new generation should grow up, whom through Esdras, Daniel, Jesus, Zorobabel, and others, formed in piety and true worship of God, He would lead back to the holy land, as I said in Jeremiah XXIX, 10.
36:22
22. Now in the first year of Cyrus. — These words are repeated verbatim at the beginning of the first chapter of the following book of Ezra, where I shall explain them as it were in their proper place. From this the Interpreters conclude that Ezra is the author of the book of Chronicles. For its end is precisely the same as the beginning of Ezra. After the books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Kings, and Chronicles, which I have expounded in my previous work, I proceed to the second volume of the Historical Books of Sacred Scripture, which comprises the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Tobit, Judith, Esther, and Maccabees. Ezra, a priest, prophet, scribe and doctor, and according to many, the restorer of the whole of Sacred Scripture, either lost in the desolation of Babylon, from memory dictated and restored; or as others more truly hold, the corrector of what was corrupted, and the describer in the more elegant Hebrew character which we now use, together with Nehemiah, a priest, son of Helcias, and cupbearer of Artaxerxes, king of the Persians, numbering the people returning from captivity and recording and completing the restoration of the temple and walls: "And all that multitude of the people returning to their homeland (says St. Jerome) and the description of the Priests, Levites of Israel, and Proselytes, convey one thing on the surface and retain another in the depths;" namely, they signify allegorically the institution of the new Church, the old Synagogue being abolished; tropologically the mystical Church, and the temple in the soul violated and scattered by sin, its repair through grace, penance, and the duties of all virtue; anagogically the construction of that new and heavenly Jerusalem, which St. John depicts in vivid colors, Apoc. xxi. Tobit is a mirror of conjugal life, admonishing and instructing the husband, the wife, and the son, each in his own duty. Moreover it teaches how piety and charity are to be retained in exile and adversities, what is the nature of Angels, what their species, what their parts, what their life and solicitous guardianship. Judith is a type of widows, offering to widows the cup of chastity, she who by most wise fortitude obtained the grace of modesty and victory over enemies as the reward of abstinence: she who, as Ambrose says concerning widows, neither stained by food nor by adultery, brought back from enemies a trophy of preserved continence no less than of the liberation of her country: and from chaste sobriety, by her hand alone she conquered Holofernes, but by her counsel she laid low the army of all the others made drunk by him. So great a deed accomplished by a woman leader. Esther, a chaste, modest, religious and wise wife toward her infidel husband and king, and pious and industrious toward all her citizens, fulfills every aspect, and in the type of the Church (I use the words of St. Jerome) liberates the people from danger, and having slain Aman, which is interpreted as iniquity, sends the portions of the feast and a celebrated day to posterity. The Maccabees excel in military fortitude, equally as in piety and zeal, and few in number, invoking God with ardent prayer, they rout vast armies of enemies and set up trophies of divine victory for eternity. These arguments of each book, collected briefly as it were in a synopsis at the beginning, receive, O reader, which I shall explain more fully in their respective places. Furthermore, from these books Ezra and Nehemiah are protocanonical, inasmuch as they have always been held as canonical both by the Hebrews and by Christians: but Tobit, Judith, Esther, and the two books of Maccabees are deuterocanonical, or of the second order and degree, inasmuch as their authority was once doubted by some, but were afterwards received by the Church into the Canon of the books of Sacred Scripture.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
36:3
… 23, 29), he was defeated at Megiddo on the Kishon near Carmel and killed (II Chron. 35, 23-24), leaving the kingdom to his son Jehoahaz, whom N. put in chains at Riblah in the land of Hamath, afterward sending him to die in Egypt (II Kings 23, 33-34; II Chron. 36, 3); he placed on the throne instead Eliakim, another son of Josiah, under the name Jehoiakim and on condition that he pay him a large tribute of gold and silver (II Kings 23, 34-36; …
36:6
… Iud., X, 6, 1-2). As for the king of Judah, it seems that the hand of the new master made itself more harshly felt, if to this occasion must be referred the notice transmitted only by II Chron. 36:6 f., that Nebuchadnezzar put King I. in chains and plundered the Temple. …
Samaritans (Heb. Sōmērōnīm; Gr. Οἱ Σαμαρεῖται)
… syncretistic character with a certain predominance of the religion of Israel over idolatrous practices (ibid. 17, 40-41). A blow to this religious deviation was struck by King Josiah, who, crossing the country, destroyed the idolatrous images everywhere (II Chron. 36, 6, 7), and even more by the teaching of the Jewish priests; later, in fact, the Samaritans took care to make pilgrimage, for the feasts, to the temple of Jerusalem (Jer. 41, 4).
36:12
Sedecias (Heb. Sidhāyijāhā "Justice of Jahweh")
… On his religious and moral conduct this unfavorable judgment is given: "He did what was displeasing to the Lord his God; he did not humble himself before the prophet Jeremiah who spoke to him in the name of God" (II Chron. 36:12). As long as Pharaoh Necho lived, who after the defeat at Carchemish (605 B.C.) deemed it prudent not to meddle in Palestinian affairs, the situation remained fairly calm; but in the …
36:13
Sedecias (Heb. Sidhāyijāhā "Justice of Jahweh")
… His name was Mattaniah, changed to that of S. by Nebuchadnezzar himself (II Kings 24:17), who also imposed on him an oath of loyalty (II Chron. 36:13).
36:14
… It was plundered (925) by Pharaoh Shishak (I Kings 14:26), by Jehoash of Israel (798-783), by Athaliah; profaned by Ahaz, Manasseh, Amon, Zedekiah (II Chron. 36:14); Ahaz (736-721) replaced the altar of holocausts with another reproducing a model from Damascus (II Kings 16:10-14). It was restored or purified by Jehoshaphat (II Chron. 20:5), …
36:20
… Some moderns prefer the Hellenistic period (after 330 B.C.) because: a) the genealogy of Zerubbabel is extended to the sixth generation in the Masoretic text, and in the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Syriac to the eleventh (I Par. 3, 19 ff.); b) the expression "king of the Persians" (II Par. 36, 20) would suggest that Persian domination had already declined. …
36:21
… The restoration foretold by Jer. 25, 11 f.; 29, 10 (cf. II Chron. 36, 21) will begin after 70 years from 605 B.C., but will come about slowly. …
… As the genealogies (1-9) prove the authenticity of post-exilic Israel, so from II Par. 36, 21-23 it is discerned that its messianic destinies still subsist and tend toward fulfillment, despite the exile.
36:22
Cyrus the Great (Cuneiform Inscriptions Kuruš; Heb. Kôreš)
… These data from the cuneiform documents help us to understand well the attitude of C. with regard to the Jews: in fact in the first year of his reign at Babylon (538) he permitted them to return home and rebuild at Jerusalem the temple to Yahweh (II Par. 36, 22-23; Eid. 1, 1-11; 3, 7; 4, 3; 5, 13-17; 6, 2-5.14); this event had already been foretold by Isaiah (44, 28; 45, 1-4; cf. 41, 1-4; 46, 11; Fl. Josephus, Antiq. …
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Douay 1609-10), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.