25:1 西底家背叛巴比倫王。他作王第九年十月初十日,巴比倫王尼布甲尼撒率領全軍來攻擊耶路撒冷,對城安營,四圍築壘攻城。
25:2 於是城被圍困,直到西底家王十一年。
25:3 四月初九日,城裡有大饑荒,甚至百姓都沒有糧食。
25:4 城被攻破,一切兵丁就在夜間從靠近王園兩城中間的門逃跑。迦勒底人正在四圍攻城,王就向亞拉巴逃走。
25:5 迦勒底的軍隊追趕王,在耶利哥的平原追上他;他的全軍都離開他四散了。
25:6 迦勒底人就拿住王,帶他到在利比拉的巴比倫王那裡審判他。
25:7 在西底家眼前殺了他的眾子,並且剜了西底家的眼睛,用銅鍊鎖著他,帶到巴比倫去。
25:8 巴比倫王尼布甲尼撒十九年五月初七日,巴比倫王的臣僕、護衛長尼布撒拉旦來到耶路撒冷,
25:9 用火焚燒耶和華的殿和王宮,又焚燒耶路撒冷的房屋,就是各大戶家的房屋。
25:10 跟從護衛長迦勒底的全軍就拆毀耶路撒冷四圍的城牆。
25:11 那時護衛長尼布撒拉旦將城裡所剩下的百姓,並已經投降巴比倫王的人,以及大眾所剩下的人,都擄去了。
25:12 但護衛長留下些民中最窮的,使他們修理葡萄園,耕種田地。
25:13 耶和華殿的銅柱,並耶和華殿的盆座和銅海,迦勒底人都打碎了,將那銅運到巴比倫去了,
25:14 又帶去鍋、鏟子、蠟剪、調羹,並所用的一切銅器,
25:15 火鼎、碗,無論金的銀的,護衛長也都帶去了。
25:16 所羅門為耶和華殿所造的兩根銅柱、一個銅海,和幾個盆座,這一切的銅,多得無法可稱。
25:17 這一根柱子高十八肘,柱上有銅頂,高三肘;銅頂的周圍有網子和石榴,都是銅的。那一根柱子,照此一樣,也有網子。
25:18 護衛長拿住大祭司西萊雅、副祭司西番亞,和三個把門的,
25:19 又從城中拿住一個管理兵丁的官(或譯:太監),並在城裡所遇常見王面的五個人和檢點國民軍長的書記,以及城裡遇見的國民六十個人。
25:20 護衛長尼布撒拉旦將這些人帶到在利比拉的巴比倫王那裡。
25:21 巴比倫王就把他們擊殺在哈馬地的利比拉。這樣,猶大人被擄去離開本地。
25:22 至於猶大國剩下的民,就是巴比倫王尼布甲尼撒所剩下的,巴比倫王立了沙番的孫子、亞希甘的兒子基大利作他們的省長。
25:23 眾軍長和屬他們的人聽見巴比倫王立了基大利作省長,於是軍長尼探雅的兒子以實瑪利、加利亞的兒子約哈難、尼陀法人單戶蔑的兒子西萊雅、瑪迦人的兒子雅撒尼亞,和屬他們的人都到米斯巴見基大利。
25:24 基大利向他們和屬他們的人起誓說:「你們不必懼怕迦勒底臣僕,只管住在這地服事巴比倫王,就可以得福。」
25:25 七月間,宗室以利沙瑪的孫子、尼探雅的兒子以實瑪利帶著十個人來,殺了基大利和同他在米斯巴的猶大人與迦勒底人。
25:26 於是眾民,無論大小,連眾軍長;因為懼怕迦勒底人,都起身往埃及去了。
So
in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month,
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army.
He encamped outside the city and built siege works all around it. 2 The
city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
3 By
the ninth day of the fourth[a] month the
famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people
to eat. 4 Then the city wall was broken through, and the whole
army fled at night through the gate between the two walls near the king’s
garden, though the Babylonians[b] were
surrounding the city. They fled toward the Arabah,[c] 5 but
the Babylonian[d] army
pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers
were separated from him and scattered, 6 and he was captured.
He
was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where sentence was pronounced on
him. 7 They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then
they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.
8 On
the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar
king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, an official of
the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9 He set fire to the
temple of the Lord, the royal
palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned
down. 10 The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the
imperial guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem. 11 Nebuzaradan
the commander of the guard carried into exile the people who remained in the
city, along with the rest of the populace and those who had deserted to the
king of Babylon. 12 But the commander left behind some of the
poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.
13 The
Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the movable stands and the bronze Sea
that were at the temple of the Lord
and they carried the bronze to Babylon. 14 They also took away
the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes and all the bronze articles used in
the temple service. 15 The commander of the imperial guard took
away the censers and sprinkling bowls—all that were made of pure gold or
silver.
16 The
bronze from the two pillars, the Sea and the movable stands, which Solomon had
made for the temple of the Lord,
was more than could be weighed. 17 Each pillar was eighteen
cubits[e] high. The
bronze capital on top of one pillar was three cubits[f] high and
was decorated with a network and pomegranates of bronze all around. The other
pillar, with its network, was similar.
18 The
commander of the guard took as prisoners Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah
the priest next in rank and the three doorkeepers. 19 Of those
still in the city, he took the officer in charge of the fighting men, and five
royal advisers. He also took the secretary who was chief officer in charge of
conscripting the people of the land and sixty of the conscripts who were found
in the city. 20 Nebuzaradan the commander took them all and
brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 21 There at
Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king had them executed.
So
Judah went into captivity, away from her land.
22 Nebuchadnezzar
king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to be
over the people he had left behind in Judah. 23 When all the
army officers and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed
Gedaliah as governor, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael son of Nethaniah,
Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, Jaazaniah the
son of the Maakathite, and their men. 24 Gedaliah took an oath
to reassure them and their men. “Do not be afraid of the Babylonian officials,”
he said. “Settle down in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go
well with you.”
25 In
the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who
was of royal blood, came with ten men and assassinated Gedaliah and also the
men of Judah and the Babylonians who were with him at Mizpah. 26 At
this, all the people from the least to the greatest, together with the army
officers, fled to Egypt for fear of the Babylonians.
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西底家竟然自不量力背叛巴比倫王,造成耶路撒冷大大的被傷害,甚至聖殿被毀!
後來巴比倫雖設省長於此,竟被於留下來的猶大人殺死,而這些留下來的猶大人竟然逃到埃及去!這和先知耶利米的記載相呼應,因為耶利米也被他們帶到埃及去!從此大以色列王國(南國和北國)完全被滅了!
而聖殿被毀的事情竟然記載在這裡,表示此信仰不是看中外表的建築物,也不是看信徒有多少,而是要人認識上帝而敬畏上帝!