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 Yahweh his God’s sight. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him, and bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar also carried some of the vessels of Yahweh’s house to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon. 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.
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 Yahweh’s sight. At the return of the year, king Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, with the valuable vessels of Yahweh’s house, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.
Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did that which was evil in Yahweh his God’s sight. He didn’t humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from Yahweh’s mouth. 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 Yahweh, the God of Israel. Moreover all the chiefs of the priests, and the people, trespassed very greatly after all the abominations of the nations; and they polluted Yahweh’s house which he had made holy in Jerusalem. Yahweh, 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; but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until Yahweh’s wrath arose against his people, until there was no remedy.
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 gray-headed. He gave them all into his hand. All the vessels of God’s house, great and small, and the treasures of Yahweh’s house, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon. They burned God’s house, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all of its valuable vessels. 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, to fulfill Yahweh’s word by Jeremiah’s mouth, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. As long as it lay desolate, it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv5, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21 Because he and the people turned not to God…
Because he and the people turned not to God by his first plague, he brought a new upon him, and at length rooted them out.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 2Ch 36:6 Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of…
2Ch 36:6 Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon.
Ver. 6. Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar.] See 2Ki 24:1.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 21 That which was found in him; that crime of…
That which was found in him; that crime of rebellion against the king of Babylon, which for a time he kept in his own breast; but when he saw fit, he discovered it, and was convicted of it. See 2Ki 24:1.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v11 We have here an account of the destruction of…
We have here an account of the destruction of the kingdom of Judah and the city of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. Abraham, God's friend, was called out of that country, from Ur of the Chaldees, when God took him into covenant and communion with himself; and now his degenerate seed were carried into that country again, to signify that they had forfeited all that kindness wherewith they had been regarded for the father's sake, and the benefit of that covenant into which he was called; all was now undone again. Here we have,
I. The sins that brought this desolation.
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1. Zedekiah, the king in whose days it came, brought it upon himself by his own folly; for he conducted himself very ill both towards God and towards the king of Babylon. (1.) If he had but made God his friend, that would have prevented the ruin. Jeremiah brought him messages from God, which, if he had given due regard to them, might have secured a lengthening of his tranquillity; but it is here charged upon him that he humbled not himself before Jeremiah, Ch2 36:12. It was expected that this mighty prince, high as he was, should humble himself before a poor prophet, when he spoke from the mouth of the Lord, should submit to his admonitions and be amended by them, to his counsels and be ruled by them, should lay himself under the commanding power of the word of God in his mouth; and, because he would not thus make himself a servant to God, he was made a slave to his enemies. God will find some way or other to humble those that will not humble themselves. Jeremiah, as a prophet, was set over the nations and kingdoms (Jer 1:10), and, as mean a figure as he made, whoever would not humble themselves before him found that it was at their peril. (2.) If he had but been true to his covenant with the king of Babylon, that would have prevented his ruin; but he rebelled against him, though he had sworn to be his faithful tributary, and perfidiously violated his engagements to him, Ch2 36:13. It was this that provoked the king of Babylon to deal so severely with him as he did. All nations looked upon an oath as a sacred thing, and on those that durst break through the obligations of it as the worst of men, abandoned of God and to be abhorred by all mankind. If therefore Zedekiah falsify his oath, when, lo, he has given his hand, he shall not escape, Eze 17:18. Though Nebuchadnezzar was a heathen, an enemy, yet if, having sworn to him, he be false to him, he shall know there is a God to whom vengeance belongs. The thing that ruined Zedekiah was not only that he turned not to the Lord God of Israel, but that he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart from turning to him, that is, he as obstinately resolved not to return to him, would not lay his neck under God's yoke nor his heart under the impressions of his word, and so, in effect, he would not be healed, he would not live.
2. The great sin that brought this destruction was idolatry. The priests and people went after the abominations of the heathen, forsook the pure worship of God for the lewd and filthy rites of the Pagan superstition, and so polluted the house of the Lord, Ch2 36:14. The priests, the chief of the priests, who should have opposed idolatry, were ring-leaders in it. That place is not far from ruin in which religion is already ruined.
3. The great aggravation of their sin, and that which filled the measure of it, was the abuse they gave to God's prophets, who were sent to call them to repentance, Ch2 36:15, Ch2 36:16. Here we have, (1.) God's tender compassion towards them in sending prophets to them. Because he was the God of their fathers, in covenant with them, and whom they worshipped (though this degenerate race forsook him), therefore he sent to them by his messengers, to convince them of their sin and warn them of the ruin they would bring upon themselves by it, rising up betimes and sending, which denotes not only that he did it with the greatest care and concern imaginable, as men rise betimes to set their servants to work when their heart is upon their business, but that, upon their first deviation from God to idols, if they took but one step that way, God immediately sent to them by his messengers to reprove them for it. He gave them early timely notice both of their duty and danger. Let this quicken us to seek God early, that he rises betimes to send to us. The prophets that were sent rose betimes to speak to them, were diligent and faithful in their office, lost no time, slipped no opportunity of dealing with them; and therefore God is said to rise betimes. The more pains ministers take in their work the more will the people have to answer for if it be all in vain. The reason given why God by his prophets did thus strive with them is because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling-place, and would by these means have prevented their ruin. Note, The methods God takes to reclaim sinners by his word, by ministers, by conscience, by providences, are all instances of his compassion towards them and his unwillingness that any should perish. (2.) Their base and disingenuous carriage towards God (Ch2 36:16): They mocked the messengers of God (which was a high affront to him that sent them), despised his word in their mouths, and not only so, but misused the prophets, treating them as their enemies. The ill usage they gave Jeremiah who lived at this time, and which we read much of in the book of his prophecy, is an instance of this. This was an evidence of an implacable enmity to God, and an invincible resolution to go on in their sins. This brought wrath upon them without remedy, for it was sinning against the remedy. Nothing is more provoking to God than abuses given to his faithful ministers; for what is done against them he takes as done against himself. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Persecution was the sin that brought upon Jerusalem its final destruction by the Romans. See Mat 23:34-37. Those that mock at God's faithful ministers, and do all they can to render them despicable or odious, that vex and misuse them, to discourage them and to keep others from hearkening to them, should be reminded that a wrong done to an ambassador is construed as done to the prince that sends him, and that the day is coming when they will find it would have been better for them if they had been thrown into the sea with a mill-stone about their necks; for hell is deeper and more dreadful.
II. The desolation itself, and some few of the particular so fit, which we had more largely Kg2 25:1. Multitudes were put to the sword, even in the house of their sanctuary (Ch2 36:17), whither they fled for refuge, hoping that the holiness of the place would be their protection. But how could they expect to find it so when they themselves had polluted it with their abominations? Ch2 36:14. Those that cast off the dominion of their religion forfeit all the benefit and comfort of it. The Chaldeans not only paid no reverence to the sanctuary, but showed no natural pity either to the tender sex or to venerable age. They forsook God, who had compassion on them (Ch2 36:15), and would have none of him; justly therefore are they given up into the hands of cruel men, for they had no compassion on young man or maiden. 2. All the remaining vessels of the temple, great and small, and all the treasures, sacred and secular, the treasures of God's house and of the king and his princes, were seized, and brought to Babylon, Ch2 36:18. 3. The temple was burnt, the walls of Jerusalem were demolished, the houses (called here the palaces, as Psa 48:3, so stately, rich, and sumptuous were they) laid in ashes, and all the furniture, called here the goodly vessels thereof, destroyed, Ch2 36:19. Let us see where what woeful havock sin makes, and, as we value the comfort and continuance of our estates, keep that worm from the root of them. 4. The remainder of the people that escaped the sword were carried captives to Babylon (Ch2 36:20), impoverished, enslaved, insulted, and exposed to all the miseries, not only of a strange and barbarous land, but of an enemy's land, where those that hated them bore rule over them. They were servants to those monarchs, and no doubt were ruled with rigour so long as that monarchy lasted. Now they sat down by the rivers of Babylon, with the streams of which they mingled their tears, Psa 137:1. And though there, it should seem, they were cured of idolatry, yet, as appears by the prophet Ezekiel, they were not cured of mocking the prophets. 5. The land lay desolate while they were captives in Babylon, Ch2 36:21. That fruitful land, the glory of all lands, was now turned into a desert, not tilled, nor husbanded. The pastures were not clothed as they used to be with flocks, nor the valleys with corn, but all lay neglected. Now this may be considered, (1.) As the just punishment of their former abuse of it. They had served Baal with its fruits; cursed therefore is the ground for their sakes. Now the land enjoyed her sabbaths; (Ch2 36:21), as God had threatened by Moses, Lev 26:34, and the reason there given (v. 35) is, "Because it did not rest on your sabbaths; you profaned the sabbath-day, did not observe the sabbatical year." They many a time ploughed and sowed their land in the seventh year, when it should have rested, and now it lay unploughed and unsown for ten times seven years. Note, God will be no loser in his glory at last by the disobedience of men: if the tribute be not paid, he will distrain and recover it, as he speaks, Hos 2:9. If they would not let the land rest, God would make it rest whether they would or no. Some think they had neglected the observance of seventy sabbatical years in all, and just so many, by way of reprisal, the land now enjoyed; or, if those that had been neglected were fewer, it was fit that the law should be satisfied with interest. We find that one of the quarrels God had with them at this time was for not observing another law which related to the seventh year, and that was the release of servants; see Jer 34:13, etc. (2.) Yet we may consider it as giving some encouragement to their hopes that they should, in due time, return to it again. Had others come and taken possession of it, they might have despaired of ever recovering it; but, while it lay desolate, it did, as it were, lie waiting for them again, and refuse to acknowledge any other owners.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv14–20 And the Lord God of their fathers sent to…
And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers,.... The prophets of the Lord, to admonish them of their idolatries, and to reprove them for them, to warn them of the wrath of God that would come upon them on that account, unless they repented and reformed; these were at the beginning of their apostasy, and were successively continued unto this time, as Ahijah, Elijah, and others, in the first times of it; Amos, Isaiah, and others, in the middle of it; and Jeremiah, Zephaniah, and Ezekiel, towards the close of it:
rising up betimes, and sending; which is either to be understood of the Lord, and as expressive of his care and diligence, like the master of a family, solicitous for the good of it; or of the messengers, the prophets, who made haste to go or send their prophecies and instructions to reclaim the people; the phrase is often to be met with in the prophecy of Jeremiah; see Gill on Jer 11:7,
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because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwellingplace; being unwilling they should come to ruin, and perish, and their city and temple be destroyed where they dwelt.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv8, 10, 13, 15, 16, 17, 21 Found in him - That crime of rebellion against…
Found in him - That crime of rebellion against the king of Babylon, which for a time he kept in his own breast, but when he saw fit, discovered it, and was convicted of it.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv6, 9, 10, 12, 19, 21 Verse 6. Came up Nebuchadnezzar] 2Kg 24:1. Archbishop Usher…
Verse 6. Came up Nebuchadnezzar] 2Kg 24:1. Archbishop Usher believes that Jehoiakim remained three years after this tributary to the Chaldeans, and that it is from this period that the seventy years' captivity, predicted by Jeremiah, is to be reckoned.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21 2Ch 36:6. And bound him in fetters to carry…
2Ch 36:6. And bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon — But he did not carry him thither, for Nebuchadnezzar altered his mind, and permitted him to reign at Jerusalem as his tributary, though he carried away, as it follows, some of the vessels of the temple, and also certain principal persons, as we read in the first of Daniel.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 20, 21 In his temple - Compare “the house of his…
In his temple - Compare “the house of his god” Dan 1:2. Nebuchadnezzars inscriptions show him to have been the special votary of Merodach, the Babylonian Mars. His temple, which the Greeks called the temple of Behus, was one of the most magnificent buildings in Babylon. Its ruins still remain in the vast mound, called Babil, which is the loftiest and most imposing of the “heaps” that mark the site of the ancient city.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 15, 16, 18, 20, 21 Babylon, but sent him back soon after; (T.) unless…
Babylon, but sent him back soon after; (T.) unless he altered his first design, (D.) and slew him disgracefully at Jerusalem. Lyranus. E. C. 4 K. xxiii. 5. --- He allowed him to reign as a vassal other three years, but took Daniel, &c. captives. The seventy years of Jeremias, (xxv. 11.) are to be dated from this event. The year of the world 3402. Usher.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 9, 11, 13, 21 JEHOIAKIM, REIGNING ILL, IS CARRIED INTO BABYLON. (Ch2 36:5-8)
JEHOIAKIM, REIGNING ILL, IS CARRIED INTO BABYLON. (Ch2 36:5-8)
Jehoiakim . . . did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord--He followed the course of his idolatrous predecessors; and the people, to a great extent, disinclined to the reforming policy of his father, eagerly availed themselves of the vicious license which his lax administration restored. His character is portrayed with a masterly hand in the prophecy of Jeremiah (Jer 22:13-19). As the deputy of the king of Egypt, he departed further than his predecessor from the principles of Josiah's government; and, in trying to meet the insatiable cupidity of his master by grinding exactions from his subjects, he recklessly plunged into all evil.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v21 21. The word of the Lord by… Jeremiah —…
21. The word of the Lord by… Jeremiah — Jer_25:9-12; Jer_29:10; and the note on Ezr_1:1.
Until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths — See Lev_26:34-35; Lev_26:43. We need not assume that the observance of the sabbatic years had been neglected exactly seventy times in succession, or for the period of four hundred and ninety years preceding this exile. But it is probable that during the thousand years between Moses and the Babylonish exile as many as seventy sabbatic years had been neglected, and, at last, judgment that had seemed to slumber long, exacted all.
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THE PROCLAMATION OF CYRUS, 2Ch_36:22-23.
For exposition of these verses, see notes on Ezr_1:1-4.
As the books of Kings end with a notice of Jehoiachin’s release from prison, thus shedding a ray of light on Judah’s future, (see note on 2Ki_25:30,) so these Chronicles close with a recital of the proclamation of Cyrus, the Lord’s anointed shepherd, of whom Isaiah (Isa_44:28; Isa_45:1) had prophesied long years before as “saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built, and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.” It was a sound of grace, the trumpet blast that shook the dry bones of fallen Israel, (Eze_37:1-14,) and raised the nation to a new and purer life. It was the opening of a new age, and our author felt he could not close his work without directing the eye of his reader across the dark gulf of his people’s exile to the dawn of a brighter era.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv5–21 5–8 (= 1Es_1:39-42; 2Ki_23:35 to 2Ki_24:7). The Reign of…
5–8 (= 1Es_1:39-42; 2Ki_23:35 to 2Ki_24:7). The Reign of Jehoiakim
5. in Jerusalem] The Chronicler omits his mother’s name (cp. 2Ch_36:2, note) and also the statement that he raised the indemnity imposed by Neco by means of a poll-tax (2Ki_23:35).
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he did that which was evil] Cp. 2Ki_23:37; Jer_22:13-18; Jer_26:20-23; Jer_36:1-32.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21 THE REIGN OF JEHOIAKIM (2Ch_36:5-8). (Comp. 2Ki_23:36 to 2Ki_24:7;…
THE REIGN OF JEHOIAKIM (2Ch_36:5-8). (Comp. 2Ki_23:36 to 2Ki_24:7; 2 Kings 3 Esdr. 1:37-41; Jer_25:26)
(5) Jehoiakim . . . in Jerusalem.—2Ki_23:36, adding the mother’s name. here. So LXX.
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And he did . . . the Lord.—2Ki_23:37, which adds “according to all that his fathers had done.” So LXX.
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.—Nabium-kudurri-uçur (“Nebo guard the crown! “) son of Nabopalassar, who had founded this dynasty by successful revolt against Assyria. His extant inscriptions chiefly relate to palace and temple building. Schrader gives a short inscription from a brick now in the Zürich Museum. “Nabû-Kudurri-uçur, king of Babylon, restorer of Esagili and Ezida [two famous temples], son of Nabû-abala-uçur, King of Babylon am I.” No really historical inscription is known except a fragment relating to his Egyptian campaign in his 37th year (568 B.C. ), and an illegible one on the rocks of Nahr-el-Kelb near Beirut. The LXX. here interpolates the account of Jehoiakim’s three years of vassalage, and his revolt against Nebuchadnezzar, and the other events and reflections contained in 2Ki_24:1-4. The LXX. makes Jehoiakim, instead of Manasseh, “fill Jerusalem with innocent blood,” contrary to the Hebrew text.
And bound him in fetters.—Two bronze (chains), as in 2Ch_33:11.
To carry him to Babylon.—To make him go. It is not said that this intention was carried out. (Comp. 2Ch_33:11, “and carried him to Babylon.”) Nebuchadnezzar, who, according to Jer_46:2, had defeated Necho in a great battle at Carchemish, in the 4th year of Jehoiakim, appears to have left the king of Judah to reign as a vassal-king, after inflicting upon him a severe humiliation. (The LXX., 3 Esdr., Vulg., and Arabic, but not the Syriac, read: “and carried him to Babylon.”) Thenius says this must be the right reading, and then denies its claim to credibility. He further asserts that, “in order to allow ample scope for the fulfilment of the prophecy of Jeremiah” (see Note on 2Ch_36:8), the chronicler has represented Jehoiakim as carried alive to Babylon in the last year of his reign. This statement rests not upon objective historical grounds, but upon subjective prejudices against the chronicler.
Dan_1:1, by a transcriber’s error, puts this first capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in the third year of Jehoiakim; whereas Nebuchadnezzar only became king in the fourth of Jehoiakim. (2Ki_25:8; Jer_25:1.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv5–21 Here we note the age of Jehoiakim as greater…
Here we note the age of Jehoiakim as greater than that of Jeoahaz, and in the parallel we read that his mother was different.
Vers. 5-8.
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The fortunes of Jehoiakim.
I A NEW KING UPON THE THRONE OF JUDAH. (Ver. 5.)
1. His designation. Eliakim, "Whom God establishes," changed into Jehoiakim, "Jehovah has set up;" not by himself (Cheyne, "Jeremiah: his Life and Times," p. 142), though it would almost seem as if Uzziah had adopted that name instead of Azariah on acceding to the crown, (2Ch_26:1) and Pal had assumed the title Tiglath-Pileser, "Adar is my confidence," on succeeding Shalmaneser of Assyria (Saye, "Fresh Light," etc., p. 126); but by Necho II; (ver. 4 2Ki_23:34) as Mattaniah"s name was changed into Zedekiah by Nebuchadnezzar; (2Ki_24:17) which statements may be harmonized by supposing that "Necho and
2. Nebuchadnezzar treated the vassal kings appointed by them not altogether as slaves, but permitted them to choose themselves the new names, which they only confirmed in token of their supremacy" (Keil).
3. His lineage. The son of Josiah and of Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah, supposed to be identical with Arumah, near Shechem. (2Ki 32:3-6) Jehoahaz., whom he succeeded, was his younger brother by a different mother, Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. (2Ki_23:31)
1. His accession.
(1) As to time, when he was twenty-five years of age, which shows he must have been born in his father"s fourteenth year.
(2) As to means, by the help of Necho II, who deposed his usurping brother (ver. 3), partly perhaps because he was a usurper, but partly also, it may be assumed, because the people had elected that brother without having first obtained Necho"s consent.
(3) As to title, he was Josiah"s eldest son, and therefore the crown prince and legal heir to the throne.
4. His character. Bad; modelled upon that of Ahab rather than of Josiah. Jer_22:15, reading of two Septuagint manuscripts, adopted by Cheyne.
(1) Idolatrous: "He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord" (ver. 5), as his half-brother had done. (2Ki_23:32) "He devoted himself with his whole soul to the heathen party, reintroduced all the foreign rites formerly extirpated by Josiah, and added the Egyptian to their number" (Ewald), of which the amplest proof appears in the prophets (Jer_7:9, etc.; Jer_17:2 Jer_19:4, Jer_19:5; Eze_8:9-17)
(2) Violent; in this respect like his brother, compared to a young lion who learnt to catch the prey and devoured men (Eze_19:5, Eze_19:6; of.; (Jer_22:17) the worst examples of his violence being his murder of Urijah the prophet, whom he fetched out of Egypt and slew, (Jer_26:22) and his burning of Jeremiah"s roll, accompanied with an order to arrest the prophet. (Jer_36:23, Jer_36:26)
(3) Luxurious; he strove to excel in cedar, by building for himself a costly palace of ample proportions, with spacious chambers and large windows, celled with cedar, and painted with vermilion. (Jer_22:14, Jer_22:15) "At another time certainly no one could have blamed Jehoiakim and his nobles for being discontented with the narrow, ill-lighted chambers of Syrian houses; but was this the moment for beautifying Jerusalem when the land was still groaning under Necho"s war-fine?" (Cheyne, "Jeremiah: his Life and Times," p. 141).
(4) Exacting; grinding the faces of his people with severe taxation to pay the tribute to Pharaoh, (2Ki_23:33) and cheating of their hard-earned wages the very labourers who built his palace. (Jer_22:13)
(5) Licentious; abandoning himself to lewdness. (Eze_19:7, margin; RAPC 1Est 1:42) In short, "he remained fixed in the recollections of his countrymen as the last example of those cruel, selfish, luxurious princes, the natural product of Oriental monarchies, the disgrace of the monarchy of David "(Stanley).
1. His reign. Eleven years. Too long for any good it wrought. Judah could hardly have fared worse, had he been uncrowned after three months, as his brother had been.
2. His death. Accounts vary.
(1) The Chronicler does not make it clear whether he was carried to Babylon or not. If he was, (Dan_1:2 RAPC 1Est 1:40) he was probably, like Manasseh, (2Ch_33:13) permitted after a time to return to his own land (Keil, Bertheau, Jamieson), since
(2) according to 2 Kings, (2Ki_24:6) Jehoiakim "slept with his fathers," and, according to the LXX, "was buried in the garden of Uzzah." The addendum of the LXX is obviously non-authentic, and the statement of Scripture seems contradicted by
(3) passages in Jeremiah, which say that Jehoiakim should be "buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem", (Jer_22:19) and that his dead body should be "cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost". (Jer_36:30) The reconciliation, however, of the seeming discrepancy is easy. He may have been slain by the hand of an assassin, and his dead body thereupon cast out unburied (Cheyne); or "he may have perished in a battle with some one of the irregular marauding bands who, according to, (2Ki_24:2) came against him" (Keil, Bahr) and his corpse been left to rot upon the battlefield; or, after being first executed by Nebuchadnezzar and buried with the burial of an ass, his bones may have been collected and interred in the sepulchre of Manasseh (Rawlinson).
II. A NEW ENEMY AT THE GATE OF JERUSALEM. (Ver. 6.)
1. His person. Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadrezzar, (Jer_21:2) Nabuchodonosor (LXX), in the inscriptions Nabu-kudurri-usur, meaning "Nebo protect the crown.
2. His descent. A son of Nabopolassar, a general of Sarak, the last King of Nineveh (Ewald), perhaps the viceroy of Babylon (Cheyne). On the fall of Nineveh he founded the new Babylonian empire (B.C. 625-610).
3. His title. King of Babylon. Hitherto the enemies of Jerusalem and Judah had been kings of Egypt (2Ch_12:2 2Ch_36:3) or of Assyria; (2Ch_28:20 2Ch_32:1, 2Ch_32:2) now it is a King of Babylon. According to the canon of Ptolemy, Nebuchadnezzar ascended the throne in B.C. 604; according to Berosus, while crown prince he was, in B.C. 605, despatched by his father "to crush a revolt of the western provinces," in which he was entirely successful, having conquered Syria and Phoenicia as well as Egypt.
4. His invasion. According to Daniel, this occurred in Jehoiakim"s third, (Dan_1:1) the year before Nebuchadnezzar defeated Necho at Carchemish, (Jer_25:1 Jer_46:2) i.e. B.C. 606. The probability is that, either before or immediately after defeating Necho, he proceeded to Jerusalem and received the submission of Jehoiakim, who had up till that time been Necho"s vassal. In order to secure this transference of Jehoialdm"s allegiance, he appears to have both taken the city and put its sovereign in chains, as if, should he prove refractory, to deport him to Babylon, but to have departed from this design on obtaining promise of Jehoiakim"s fealty. This, however, Jehoiakim only kept for three years, (2Ki_24:1) at the end of which he rebelled, Nebuchadnezzar, being occupied with affairs in Babylon, having acceded to the throne only two years prior to Jehoiakim"s revolt, despatched against the rebel several detachments of troops, "bands of Chaldeans," at the same time stirring up the Ammonites, Syrians, and Moabites to harass Judah, (2Ki_24:2) but not himself returning to Jerusalem till five years later, in the reign of Jehoiachin.
III A NEW SPOLIATION OF JEHOVAH"S TEMPLE. (Ver. 7.)
1. The first plundering of the sacred edifice.
(1) By whom? Shishak (Sheshonk) King of Egypt.
(2) When? In the fifth year of Rehoboam, B.C. 971.
(3) To what extent? Total: "He took away the treasures of the house of the Lord: he took all" (2Ch_12:9; 1Ki_14:26)
2. The second plundering of the sacred edifice.
(1) The despoiler. Ahaz King of Judah.
(2) The time. B.C. 734, during the Syro-Ephraimitish invasion.
(3) The reason. To purchase therewith the help of Tiglath-Pileser II against Rezin of Damascus and Pekah of Samaria. (2Ch_28:21)
3. The third plundering of the sacred edifice.
(1) The agent, Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz.
(2) The act. He took "all the silver found in the house of the Lord and the gold from the doors and pillars of the temple". (2Ki_18:15, 2Ki_18:16)
(3) The object. To give to Sennacherib King of Assyria as tribute-money.
(4) The date. When Sennacherib was encamped at Lachish, B.C. 701.
4. The fourth plundering of the sacred edifice.
(1) The person. Nebuchadnezzar, called King of Babylon, though at the time only crown-prince.
(2) The extent. Partial: "He carried off the vessels of the house of the Lord." Jeremiah (Jer_27:18, Jer_27:20) predicted that the vessels which had been left would one day be carried to Babylon, and would remain there until the return from captivity, when they should again be restored to their place in the temple (cf. ver. 18; (Dan_5:2; Ezr_1:7)
(3) The cause. To punish Judah as well as Jehoiakim, and to ensure their fealty.
(4) The aggravation. The pillaged vessels were transported to Babylon and deposited in "his temple," or "treasure house of his god", (Dan_1:2 RAPC 1Est 1:41) rather than "his palace" (Bertheau). The inscriptions show that Marduk, or Merodach, was Nebuchadnezzar"s patron divinity, that Nebuchadnezzar"s temple was the temple of Merodach at Babylon, which he completely built and restored, and that Nebuchadnezzar himself was, according to his ideas, intensely religions, even calling himself "the heaven-adoring king" ("Records," etc., 5:113, etc.; 7:75, etc.).
LESSONS.
1. The native corruption of the human heart, attested by the wickedcharacters of Josiah"s sons.
2. The impossibility of going on in sin with impunity. W.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v15 And the Lord God of their fathers sent to…
2Ch_36:15-17
And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by is me messengers, rising up betimes.
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Presumptuous rebellion
I. We see here continued rebellion, which suggests--
1. That habits are easily commenced. There is little difficulty in forming habits. They are not acquired by one mighty bound, but by a series of almost imperceptible steps.
2. That habits are readily strengthened. Every step that is taken is planted with firmer grip. With every ripple that flows the stream becomes wider and swifter, fed as it were with other streamlets on the way. Every time an action is repeated the easier it becomes, and the more deeply rooted in the soul.
3. That habits are seldom eradicated. Can the Ethiopian change his skin? Yea, easier than a man unassisted by Divine help can break away from evil habits. They become part of the nature of the man himself.
II. We see the presumption of continued rebellion. We are constantly reminded of the fact that God is merciful. But there is a limit to the mercy and forbearance even of God. This is evident--
1. From the fact that it is impossible always to continue His warning and judgments on the impenitent. If the obstinacy of one person cannot be overcome it were unjust on that account to remove the chance of salvation from others.
2. From the inevitable progress of temporal affairs. Death comes on with his rapid step and cuts short the life and with it the opportunities of repentance from the obdurate spirit. Then the door of mercy must be shut for ever.
3. From the very nature of the refusal. Is it likely that He, the Lord of all, will continue offering heavenly treasures to human swine who only trample His gifts in the mire? Oh, it is a sad and an awful truth that man may presume too far even on infinite love!
III. We see the awful end of presumptuous sin. The consequences are at the last utter destruction and irretrievable loss. This stands to reason if we remember--
1. That God must vindicate His character.
2. That an example must be set to the world at large.
3. That the sinful must be removed out of the way. (Homilist.)
Unheeded warning
The island of Ischia was a favourite summer resort of Italians. In 1883 the sinking of water in wells, mutterings and rumblings underground, distinctly foretold a coming earthquake; these signs were noticed and understood, but through fear of frightening visitors, and so losing custom, hotel-keepers and others refrained from making public these warnings. Ruin and death ensued, involving those who knew and heeded not, and those who, through lack of warning, had unwittingly exposed themselves to peril.
Till there was no remedy.
No remedy
These words contain three facts of great importance.
1. That there was, at least at one time, a remedy.
2. That the remedy went on, and might have been used, for a very long period.
3. That there came a time when the remedy ceased.
I. All life is a remedy. The conditions of things require it. Life a great restorative process.
1. Comes that marvellous provision of God in Jesus Christ.
2. All providences have a curative character.
3. Every one carries within himself an antidote to evil. Conscience, till silenced, a sure antidote to evil.
II. Notice the word till. It shows how slow God is to take away the remedy. We may sin ourselves into a state, not in which there is no forgiveness, but no thought or desire to seek forgiveness. No remedy, not on Gods account, but your own; not in Gods want of will to save you, but in your own incapacity to will your own salvation. (J. Vaughan, M.A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v11 2 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
THE FALL OF JUDAH
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2Ch 36:11 - 2Ch 36:21.
Bigness is not greatness, nor littleness smallness. Nebuchadnezzar’s conquest of Judah was, in his eyes, one of the least important of his many victories, but it is the only one of them which survives in the world’s memory and keeps his name as a household word. The Jews were a mere handful, and their country a narrow strip of land between the desert and the sea; but little Judaea, like little Greece, has taught the world. The tragedy of its fall has importance quite disproportioned to its apparent magnitude. Our passage brings together Judah’s sin and Judah’s punishment, and we shall best gather the lessons of its fall by following the order of the text.
Consider the sin. There is nothing more remarkable than the tone in which the chronicler, like all the Old Testament writers, deals with the national sin. Patriotic historians make it a point of pride and duty to gloss over their country’s faults, but these singular narrators paint them as strongly as they can. Their love of their country impels them to ‘make known to Israel its transgression and to Judah its sin.’ There are tears in their eyes, as who can doubt? But there is no faltering in their voices as they speak. A higher feeling than misguided ‘patriotism’ moves them. Loyalty to Israel’s God forces them to deal honestly with Israel’s sin. That is the highest kind of love of country, and might well be commended to loudmouthed ‘patriot’s in modern lands.
Look at the piled-up clauses of the long indictment of Judah in 2Ch 36:12 - 2Ch 36:16. Slow, passionless, unsparing, the catalogue enumerates the whole black list. It is like the long-drawn blast of the angel of judgment’s trumpet. Any trace of heated emotion would have weakened the impression. The nation’s sin was so crimson as to need no heightening of colour. With like judicial calmness, with like completeness, omitting nothing, does ‘the book,’ which will one day be opened, set down every man’s deeds, and he will be ‘judged according to the things that are written in this book.’ Some of us will find our page sad reading.
But the points brought out in this indictment are instructive. Judah’s idolatry and ‘trespass after all the abominations of the heathen’ is, of course, prominent, but the spirit which led to their idolatry, rather than the idolatry itself, is dwelt on. Zedekiah’s doing ‘evil in the sight of the Lord’ is regarded as aggravated by his not humbling himself before Jeremiah, and the head and front of his offending is that ‘he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart from turning unto the Lord.’ Similarly, the people’s sin reaches its climax in their ‘mocking’ and ‘scoffing’ at the prophets and ‘despising’ God’s words by them. So then, an evil life has its roots in an alienated heart, and the source of all sin is an obstinate self-will. That is the sulphur-spring from which nothing but unwholesome streams can flow, and the greatest of all sins is refusing to hear God’s voice when He speaks to us.
Further, this indictment brings out the patient love of God seeking, in spite of all their deafness, to find a way to the sinners’ ears and hearts. In a bold transference to Him of men’s ways, He is said to have ‘risen early’ to send the prophets. Surely that means earnest effort. The depths of God’s heart are disclosed when we are bidden to think of His compassion as the motive for the prophet’s messages and threatenings. What a wonderful and heart-melting revelation of God’s placableness, wistful hoping against hope, and reluctance to abandon the most indurated sinner, is given in that centuries-long conflict of the patient God with treacherous Israel! That divine charity suffered long and was kind, endured all things and hoped all things.
Consider the punishment. The tragic details of the punishment are enumerated with the same completeness and suppression of emotion as those of the sin. The fact that all these were divine judgments brings the chronicler to the Psalmist’s attitude. ‘I was dumb, I opened not my mouth because Thou didst it.’ Sorrow and pity have their place, but the awed recognition of God’s hand outstretched in righteous retribution must come first. Modern sentimentalists, who are so tenderhearted as to be shocked at the Christian teachings of judgment, might learn a lesson here.
The first point to note is that a time arrives when even God can hope for no amendment and is driven to change His methods. His patience is not exhausted, but man’s obstinacy makes another treatment inevitable. God lavished benefits and pleadings for long years in vain, till He saw that there was ‘no remedy.’ Only then did He, as if reluctantly forced, do ‘His work, His strange work.’ Behold, therefore, the ‘goodness and severity’ of God, goodness in His long delay, severity in the final blow, and learn that His purpose is the same though His methods are opposite.
To the chronicler God is the true Actor in human affairs. Nebuchadnezzar thought of his conquest as won by his own arm. Secular historians treat the fall of Zedekiah as simply the result of the political conditions of the time, and sometimes seem to think that it could not be a divine judgment because it was brought about by natural causes. But this old chronicler sees deeper, and to him, as to us, if we are wise, ‘the history of the world is the judgment of the world.’ The Nebuchadnezzars are God’s axes with which He hews down fruitless trees. They are responsible for their acts, but they are His instruments, and it is His hand that wields them.
The iron band that binds sin and suffering is disclosed in Judah’s fall. We cannot allege that the same close connection between godlessness and national disaster is exemplified now as it was in Israel. Nor can we contend that for individuals suffering is always the fruit of sin. But it is still true that ‘righteousness exalteth a nation,’ and that ‘by the soul only are the nations great,’ in the true sense of the word. To depart from God is always ‘a bitter and an evil thing’ for communities and individuals, however sweet draughts of outward prosperity may for a time mask the bitterness. Not armies nor fleets, not ships, colonies and commerce, not millionaires and trusts, not politicians and diplomatists, but the fear of the Lord and the keeping of His commandments, are the true life of a nation. If Christian men lived up to the ideal set them by Jesus, ‘Ye are the salt of the land,’ and sought more earnestly and wisely to leaven their nation, they would be doing more than any others to guarantee its perpetual prosperity.
The closing words of this chapter, not included in the passage, are significant. They are the first words of the Book of Ezra. Whoever put them here perhaps wished to show a far-off dawn following the stormy sunset. He opens a ‘door of hope’ in ‘the valley of trouble.’ It is an Old Testament version of ‘God hath not cast away His people whom He foreknew.’ It throws a beam of light on the black last page of the chronicle, and reveals that God’s chastisement was in love, that it was meant for discipline, not for destruction, that it was educational, and that the rod was burned when the lesson had been learned. It was learned, for the Captivity cured the nation of hankering after idolatry, and whatever defects it brought back from Babylon, it brought back a passionate abhorrence of all the gods of the nations.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v6 came up
came up
See 2Ki 24:1-6; Jer 25:1-9; Dan 1:1; Hab 1:6. This was the first deportation of Judah. See 2Ch 36:15-21, the final deportation:
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v15 1. The captivity (2Ch 36:15-21)
IV. THE CAPTIVITY AND THE EPILOGUE
CHAPTER 36:15-23
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1. The captivity (2Ch 36:15-21)
2. The epilogue (2Ch 36:22-23)
In infinite patience the Lord still waited for the return of His people. Judgment is His strange work, but He delighteth in mercy. He sent them messengers who exhorted them and brought the messages of God, because He had compassion. But they mocked the messengers, despised God’s gracious offers and misused His prophets, till there was no remedy. An awful statement. Apostasy and defiance of God increased to such an extent, till there was no remedy. The threatening clouds of judgment broke at last and the people were carried away into the captivity. “To fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths, for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath to fulfill three-score and ten years.” And this age too is, with its rejection of God’s best, approaching a day when there will be no remedy and the judgment will fall.
The epilogue takes us after the seventy year captivity. Cyrus had been named by Isaiah almost two hundred years before he was born (Isa 44:28). God accomplished His purpose through this Persian king. We shall follow his history in Ezra and his work and what it foreshadows in Isaiah.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v11 Zedekiah’s Reign and the end of Judah
Zedekiah’s Reign and the end of Judah
v. 11. Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. Cf 2Ki 24:18 to 2Ki 25:21; Jeremiah 52. All the nobles, artisans, and craftsmen of the people having been removed, there remained only the laboring class and the farmers and gardeners.
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v. 12. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, his God, persisting in idolatry in the face of the Lord’s punishment upon his predecessors, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah, the prophet, speaking from the mouth of the Lord. Cf Jeremiah 37.
v. 13. And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God, taking a solemn oath of loyalty from him. wherefore his league with Pharaohhophrah of Egypt included the crime of perjury; but he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart from turning unto the Lord God of Israel. That is the height of God’s judgment upon man when He permits self-hardening to take place and delivers man to his own evil way of thinking.
v. 14. Moreover, all the chief of the priests and the people transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen, thus agreeing with the king in his idolatrous practices; and polluted the house of the Lord which He had hallowed in Jerusalem, by heathen sacrifices and customs.
v. 15. And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by His messengers, especially the prophets Isaiah, Micah, Habakkuk, and Jeremiah, rising up betimes and sending, that is, constantly and earnestly, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling-place, wishing to save the people from the punishment which they were inviting upon their own heads.
v. 16. But they mocked the messengers of God, as in the case of Jeremiah, Jer 5:12-13, and despised His words, and misused His prophets, Jer 32:3, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, like a fire eating through into a high flame, till there was no remedy, till the state of affairs was past healing.
v. 17. Therefore He brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, Nebuchadnezzar undertaking a third siege of Jerusalem, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, so called because they had profaned the Temple by their idolatry, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age; He gave them all into his hand, namely, when the city was captured after a siege lasting a year and a half, in the year 587 B. C.
v. 18. And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, those still remaining after the first sacking of the city, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, with the many presents of consecration, and the treasures of the king and of his princes, the entire contents of the royal treasury; all these he brought to Babylon.
v. 19. And they burned the house of God, for the floors and the inner walls of the Temple were of wood, and therefore very inflammable, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof, all those of value which they could not well transport to Babylon.
v. 20. And them that had escaped from the sword, during the siege and at the capture of the city, carried he away to Babylon, where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia, 2Ki 25:9; Jer 39:8; Jer 27:7,
v. 21. to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths; the Sabbatic years, as seasons of rest for all classes of people and for the land itself having been ignored for centuries, the Lord was now giving the land lest, Lev 26:34; for as long as she lay desolate, she kept Sabbath, for a mere handful of people remained in the land after Nebuchadnezzar’s campaign, and many of these went down into Egypt in the course of time, to fulfil threescore and ten years. It seems that no attempt was made to colonize the land in the interval, and that Judah was actually desolate for seventy years.
v. 22. Now, in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Jer 25:12-13, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, the Babylonian empire having meanwhile passed into the power of the Persian empire, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,
v. 23. Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me; and He hath charged me to build Him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. This had been revealed to Cyrus either directly or by the mouth of some prophet. Who is there among you of all His people? The Lord, His God, be with him, and let him go up. It was a free invitation calling upon the Jews to return to the land of their fathers. Note the kindness and mercy of the Lord in reinstating a remnant of His people in their country, since the Redeemer was to come out of Zion, born in Bethlehem from the stock of David.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv5, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 18, 20 twenty-five years old ... eleven years
twenty-five years old ... eleven years
"25 years old ... 11 years" (See: Numbers)
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what was evil in the sight of Yahweh his God
Here "sight" represents judgment. Yahweh saw and did not approve of Jehoiakim's actions. AT: "what Yahweh judged to be evil" or "what Yahweh considered to be evil" (See: Metaphor)
attacked him
The word "him" refers to Jehoiakim. Jehoiakim represents either Jerusalem or the nation of Judah. AT: "attacked Jerusalem" or "attacked Judah" (See: Metonymy)
Nebuchadnezzar also carried
Since Nebuchadnezzar was king, he may have had his soldiers do this. AT: "Nebuchadnezzar also had his soldiers carry" (See: Metonymy)
the house of Yahweh
Here the word "house" represents the temple. AT: "the temple of Yahweh" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
evil
Yahweh
God
Nebuchadnezzar
Babylon
house of God
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv5, 9, 11, 13, 19, 21 36:5 Jehoiakim reigned from 609 to 598 BC. •…
36:5 Jehoiakim reigned from 609 to 598 BC. • He did what was evil: Jeremiah characterized his reign as one of self-aggrandizement and injustice (Jer 22:13-17).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.