25After all these acts of Josiah, it happened that Pharaoh, king of Egypt, went to make war at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out against him. 26And the king of Egypt sent word to him saying, “What have we to do with each other, O king of Judea? 27I was not sent against you by the Lord God, for my war is at the Euphrates. And now the Lord is with me! The Lord is with me, urging me on! Stand aside, and do not oppose the Lord.”
28Josiah, however, did not turn back to his chariot, but tried to fight with him, and did not heed the words of the prophet Jeremiah from the mouth of the Lord. 29He joined battle with him in the plain of Megiddo, and the commanders came down against King Josiah. 30The king said to his servants, “Take me away from the battle, for I am very weak.” And immediately his servants took him out of the line of battle. 31He got into his second chariot; and after he was brought back to Jerusalem he died, and was buried in the tomb of his ancestors.
32In all Judea they mourned for Josiah. The prophet Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and the principal men, with the women,c have made lamentation for him to this day; it was ordained that this should always be done throughout the whole nation of Israel. 33These things are written in the book of the histories of the kings of Judea; and every one of the acts of Josiah, and his splendor, and his understanding of the law of the Lord, and the things that he had done before, and these that are now told, are recorded in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.
The Last Kings of Judah
34The men of the nation took Jeconiahd son of Josiah, who was twenty-three years old, and made him king in succession to his father Josiah. 35He reigned three months in Judah and Jerusalem. Then the king of Egypt deposed him from reigning in Jerusalem, 36and fined the nation one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold. 37The king of Egypt made his brother Jehoiakim king of Judea and Jerusalem. 38Jehoiakim put the nobles in prison, and seized his brother Zarius and brought him back from Egypt.
39Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign in Judea and Jerusalem; he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. 40King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came up against him; he bound him with a chain of bronze and took him away to Babylon. 41Nebuchadnezzar also took some holy vessels of the Lord, and carried them away, and stored them in his temple in Babylon. 42But the things that are reported about Jehoiakim,e and his uncleanness and impiety, are written in the annals of the kings.
43His son Jehoiachinf became king in his place; when he was made king he was eighteen years old, 44and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. 45A year later Nebuchadnezzar sent and removed him to Babylon, with the holy vessels of the Lord, 46and made Zedekiah king of Judea and Jerusalem.
The Fall of Jerusalem
Zedekiah was twenty-one years old, and he reigned eleven years. 47He also did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not heed the words that were spoken by the prophet Jeremiah from the mouth of the Lord. 48Although King Nebuchadnezzar had made him swear by the name of the Lord, he broke his oath and rebelled; he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart and transgressed the laws of the Lord, the God of Israel. 49Even the leaders of the people and of the priests committed many acts of sacrilege and lawlessness beyond all the unclean deeds of all the nations, and polluted the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem—the temple that God had made holy. 50The God of their ancestors sent his messenger to call them back, because he would have spared them and his dwelling place. 51But they mocked his messengers, and whenever the Lord spoke, they scoffed at his prophets, 52until in his anger against his people because of their ungodly acts he gave command to bring against them the kings of the Chaldeans. 53These killed their young men with the sword around their holy temple, and did not spare young man or young woman,g old man or child, for he gave them all into their hands. 54They took all the holy vessels of the Lord, great and small, the treasure chests of the Lord, and the royal stores, and carried them away to Babylon. 55They burned the house of the Lord, broke down the walls of Jerusalem, burned their towers with fire, 56and utterly destroyed all its glorious things. The survivors he led away to Babylon with the sword, 57and they were servants to him and to his sons until the Persians began to reign, in fulfillment of the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, 58saying, “Until the land has enjoyed its sabbaths, it shall keep sabbath all the time of its desolation until the completion of seventy years.”
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a Gk Esyelus
b Gk him
c Or their wives
d 2 Kings 23.30; 2 Chr 36.1 Jehoahaz
e Gk him
f Gk Jehoiakim
g Gk virgin
1.1–22 This account of the reign of Josiah is parallel to that in 2 Chr 35. An important concern of the book is introduced in the opening chapter: the Jerusalem temple and the worship carried out there. The Passover celebrations obviously symbolized for the author the reformation of the temple worship undertaken by Josiah.
1.1 Josiah, king of Judah 640–609 BCE. Kept the passover. Cf. 2 Chr 35.1–19; 2 Kings 23.21–23. To his Lord. The Hebrew in the parallel verse, 2 Chr 35.1, has “to the LORD,” using the divine name YHWH; in Greek, however, the divine personal name is represented by the title “the Lord,” to which the possessive pronoun “his” can be attached.
1.2 Divisions, the “courses,” or teams, of priests rostered throughout the year for service in the temple; see 1 Chr 24.3–19. The detail that the priests were arrayed in their vestments is not in 2 Chr 35.2, but see Ezra 3.10. The author is attracted by the splendor of the temple officials (see also note on 1.10).
1.3 The Levites, the temple servants. In 2 Chr 35.3 the Levites are described as those who “taught all Israel.” Perhaps the author has less regard for the Levites than does the Chronicler (though 1 Esd 9.48–49 does depict them as teachers of the law). The temple servants are elsewhere a separate and inferior class, the Nethinim (cf. Ezra 2.43–54).
1.4 Worship…and serve. In the Hebrew of 2 Chr 35.3 there is only one verb, “serve,” which can mean both “worship” (a deity) and “serve” (humans).
1.5 Magnificence. 2Chr 35.4 has only “written directions,” but 1 Esdras is stressing the importance of the temple.
1.7 Calves, or “young bulls” 2 Chr 35.7 reads “bulls.”
1.9 Seven hundred calves, in 2 Chr 35.9 “five hundred bulls.”
1.10 It should be the Levites alone who are preparing the Passover for themselves and for the priests (1.13). Unleavened bread, perhaps a misreading of the Hebrew mitswat, “command” (2 Chr 35.10), as matsot, “unleavened bread.” The Festival of Unleavened Bread followed Passover (cf. 1.19). In proper order, lit. “becomingly,” stresses the attractive appearance of the clergy more than the Hebrew “in their divisions” (2 Chr 35.10).
1.11 Morning, a misreading of the Hebrew baqar, “cattle” (2 Chr 35.12), as boqer, “morning” (some Hebrew manuscripts have the same error).
1.12 At the beginning of this verse 2 Chr 35.11–12 has been omitted. With a pleasing odor, a misreading of “pans” (2 Chr 35.13).
1.23–33 The death of Josiah.
1.23–24 1 Esdras makes this addition to 2 Chr 35 as an explanatory preface to the narrative of how, despite Josiah’s piety, he meets an untimely death (1.25–31). The death of Josiah was obviously a theological problem. There may be some allusion to 2 Kings 23.24–27. It is strange that 1 Esdras omits the phrase from 2 Chr 35.20 “After all this, when Josiah had set the temple in order,” since that would have suited its purposes well.
1.28 Instead of the words of the prophet Jeremiah the Hebrew has “the words of Neco” (2 Chr 35.22). Perhaps the author disapproved of depicting the Egyptian king as a vehicle for God’s words. No specific words of Jeremiah on the subject are known, but the author may have felt Josiah should have been warned by words like Jer 46.6.
1.32 The principal men, with the women, probably a misreading of the Hebrew hasharim wehasharot, “the singing men and
singing women” (2 Chr 35.25), as hasarim wehasarot, “the princes and princesses,” which the Greek author further transformed by putting the women in a subordinate place.
1.33 The book of the histories of the kings of Judea, not the biblical Kings or Chronicles. 2 Chr 35.25 says their laments are “recorded in the Laments,” but that does not refer to the biblical book of Lamentations. Josephus refers to such a lament (Antiquities 10.78–80), but we do not know his source. His splendor, and his understanding of the law of the Lord, in 2 Chr 35.26 simply “his faithful deeds in accordance with what is written in the law of the LORD.” Josiah is more of a hero to the author of 1 Esdras.
1.34–46a The last kings of Judah.
1.34 Jeconiah, an error for Jehoahaz (who appears in 2 Kings 23.30; 2 Chr 36.1).
1.35 1 Chr 36.2 adds that Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old at his accession.
1.38 In having Jehoiakim put the nobles in prison (not in 2 Chr 36) and in having him, not the Egyptian Neco, deport his brother Zarius (Jehoahaz), 1 Esdras paints Jehoiakim as more of a villain than does 2 Chr 36. From Egypt should probably be “to Egypt” (as some manuscripts also have).
1.43 Eighteen years old, as in 2 Kings 24.8 and one Septuagint reading in 2 Chr 36.9; the Hebrew of 2 Chr 36.9 has “eight years old.”
1.45 A year later. The Greek perhaps means “at the end of the accession year” (which in this case would have lasted for only three months), and so “at the turn of the regnal year” or “in the spring” (as in 2 Chr 36.10).
1.46b–58 The fall of Jerusalem.
1.58 The quote is a combination of Jeremiah’s prophecy of a seventy-year devastation of the land (Jer 25.11–12) with the idea of that period as a sabbatical rest for the land (Lev 26.34–35).
NOTE: Since most of 1 Esdras is found elsewhere in the biblical text, the notes comment only on the differences between 1 Esdras and those other texts.
1 ESDRAS 2
Cyrus Permits the Exiles to Return
1In the first year of Cyrus as king of the Persians, so that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished—2the Lord stirred up the spirit of King Cyrus of the Persians, and he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:
3“Thus says Cyrus king of the Persians: The Lord of Israel, the Lord Most High, has made me king of the world, 4and he has commanded me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judea. 5If any of you, therefore, are of his people, may your Lord be with you; go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judea, and build the house of the Lord of Israel—he is the Lord who dwells in Jerusalem—6and let each of you, wherever you may live, be helped by the people of your place with gold and silver, 7with gifts and with horses and cattle, besides the other things added as votive offerings for the temple of the Lord that is in Jerusalem.”
8Then arose the heads of families of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, and all whose spirit the Lord had stirred to go up to build the house in Jerusalem for the Lord; 9their neighbors helped them with everything, with silver and gold, with horses and cattle, and with a very great number of votive offerings from many whose hearts were stirred.
10King Cyrus also brought out the holy vessels of the Lord that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and stored in his temple of idols. 11When King Cyrus of the Persians brought these out, he gave them to Mithridates, his treasurer, 12and by him they were given to Sheshbazzar,a the governor of Judea. 13The number of these was: one thousand gold cups, one thousand silver cups, twenty-nine silver censers, thirty gold bowls, two thousand four hundred ten silver bowls, and one thousand other vessels. 14All the vessels were handed over, gold and silver, five thousand four hundred sixty-nine, 15and they were carried back by Sheshbazzar with the returning exiles from Babylon to Jerusalem.
Opposition to Rebuilding Jerusalem
16In the time of King Artaxerxes of the Persians, Bishlam, Mithridates, Tabeel, Rehum, Beltethmus, the scribe Shimshai, and the rest of their associates, living in Samaria and other places, wrote him the following letter, against those who were living in Judea and Jerusalem:
17“To King Artaxerxes our lord, your servants the recorder Rehum and the scribe Shimshai and the other members of their council, and the judges in Coelesyria and Phoenicia: 18Let it now be known to our lord the king that the Jews who came up from you to us have gone to Jerusalem and are building that rebellious and wicked city, repairing its market places and walls and laying the foundations for a temple. 19Now if this city is built and the walls finished, they will not only refuse to pay tribute but will even resist kings. 20Since the building of the temple is now going on, we think it best not to neglect such a matter, 21but to speak to our lord the king, in order that, if it seems good to you, search may be made in the records of your ancestors. 22You will find in the annals what has been written about them, and will learn that this city was rebellious, troubling both kings and other cities, 23and that the Jews were rebels and kept setting up blockades in it from of old. That is why this city was laid waste. 24Therefore we now make known to you, O lord and king, that if this city is built and its walls finished, you will no longer have access to Coelesyria and Phoenicia.”
25Then the king, in reply to the recorder Rehum, Beltethmus, the scribe Shimshai, and the others associated with them and living in Samaria and Syria and Phoenicia, wrote as follows:
26“I have read the letter that you sent me. So I ordered search to be made, and it has been found that this city from of old has fought against kings, 27that the people in it were given to rebellion and war, and that mighty and cruel kings ruled in Jerusalem and exacted tribute from Coelesyria and Phoenicia. 28Therefore I have now issued orders to prevent these people from building the city and to take care that nothing more be done 29and that such wicked proceedings go no further to the annoyance of kings.”
30Then, when the letter from King Artaxerxes was read, Rehum and the scribe Shimshai and their associates went quickly to Jerusalem, with cavalry and a large number of armed troops, and began to hinder the builders. And the building of the temple in Jerusalem stopped until the second year of the reign of King Darius of the Persians.
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a Gk Sanabassaros
2.1–15 The return of the exiles.
2.1–5 These sentences are paralleled in both 2 Chr 36.22–23 and Ezra 1.1–3.
2.13–14 For the differences in the listing of the vessels, see Ezra 1.9–11.
2.16–30 The narrative now skips to Ezra 4.7, omitting notice that the building of the temple actually started (cf. Ezra 3.8–10), though v. 30 says that it stopped (the start of the work will be recounted much later, in 5.56–58). More important, the narrative becomes misleading by introducing here an episode from a much later period. We are now not in the time of the temple building (537–515 BCE), but in the days of Artaxerxes I (465–424 BCE), when the temple had long been finished and it was the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem (not the temple) that was being hindered. The author of 1 Esdras, however, confused the two building operations, inserting references to the temple in vv. 18, 20 where they do not belong (cf. Ezra 4.12, 14).
2.16 The names listed are a combination of two sets of signatories to separate letters in Ezra 4.7, 8.
2.17 Coelesyria, lit. “hollow Syria,” the valleys and flatlands of inland Syria, reaching as far south as Judea, as distinct from Phoenicia, the eastern Mediterranean coast.
2.27 Cruel, better “ruthless” or “stubborn” (there is nothing corresponding to this in the Aramaic of Ezra 4.20).
2.30 The addition of cavalry…armed troops gives the story a more dramatic touch than that in Ezra 4.23, which speaks more abstractly of “force and power.”
1 ESDRAS 3
The Debate of the Three Bodyguards
1Now King Darius gave a great banquet for all that were under him, all that were born in his house, and all the nobles of Media and Persia, 2and all the satraps and generals and govern
ors that were under him in the hundred twenty-seven satrapies from India to Ethiopia. 3They ate and drank, and when they were satisfied they went away, and King Darius went to his bedroom; he went to sleep, but woke up again.
4Then the three young men of the bodyguard, who kept guard over the person of the king, said to one another, 5“Let each of us state what one thing is strongest; and to the one whose statement seems wisest, King Darius will give rich gifts and great honors of victory. 6He shall be clothed in purple, and drink from gold cups, and sleep on a gold bed,a and have a chariot with gold bridles, and a turban of fine linen, and a necklace around his neck; 7and because of his wisdom he shall sit next to Darius and shall be called Kinsman of Darius.”
8Then each wrote his own statement, and they sealed them and put them under the pillow of King Darius, 9and said, “When the king wakes, they will give him the writing; and to the one whose statement the king and the three nobles of Persia judge to be wisest the victory shall be given according to what is written.” 10The first wrote, “Wine is strongest.” 11The second wrote, “The king is strongest.” 12The third wrote, “Women are strongest, but above all things truth is victor.”b
13When the king awoke, they took the writing and gave it to him, and he read it. 14Then he sent and summoned all the nobles of Persia and Media and the satraps and generals and governors and prefects, 15and he took his seat in the council chamber, and the writing was read in their presence. 16He said, “Call the young men, and they shall explain their statements.” So they were summoned, and came in. 17They said to them, “Explain to us what you have written.”
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