2 Chronicles 36

Revised Geneva Translation

36 Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father’s place in Jerusalem.

² Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign. And he reigned for three months in Jerusalem.

³ And the king of Egypt took him away at Jerusalem and imposed a tribute on the land of one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold.

⁴ And the king of Egypt made Eliakim, his brother, king over Judah and Jerusalem and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Necho took Jehoahaz, his brother, and carried him to Egypt.

⁵ Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign. And he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem and did evil in the sight of the LORD his God.

⁶ Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babel, came up against him and bound him with chains to carry him to Babel.

⁷ Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the House of the LORD to Babel and put them in his temple at Babel.

⁸ Concerning the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and his abominations which he did, and that which was found against him, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin, his son, reigned in his place.

⁹ Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign. And he reigned for three months and ten days in Jerusalem and did evil in the sight of the LORD.

¹⁰ And when the year was out, King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babel, with the precious vessels of the House of the LORD. And he made Zedekiah, his brother, king over Judah and Jerusalem.

¹¹ Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign and reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem.

¹² And he did evil in the sight of the LORD his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the Prophet at the Commandment of the LORD.

¹³ But he also rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, who had caused him to swear by God. And he hardened his neck and made his heart obstinate, so that he might not return to the LORD God of Israel.

¹⁴ Also, all the chief of the priests and of the people trespassed very much, according to all the abominations of the heathen, and polluted the houses of the LORD which He had sanctified in Jerusalem.

¹⁵ Therefore, the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising early and sending. For He had compassion on His people, and on His habitation.

¹⁶ But they mocked the messengers of God and despised His Words and misused His Prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, and until there was no remedy.

¹⁷ For He brought the king of the Chaldeans upon them, who killed their young men with the sword in the House of their Sanctuary, and spared neither young man nor virgin, ancient nor aged. God gave all into his hand.

¹⁸ And all the vessels of the House of God, great and small, and the treasures of the House of the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes, all these he carried to Babel.

¹⁹ And they burnt the House of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all its precious vessels.

²⁰ And those who were left by the sword, he carried away to Babel. And they were servants to him, and to his sons, until the kingdom of the Persians ruled,

²¹ to fulfill the Word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had her fill of her Sabbaths. For all the days that she lay desolate, she kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.

²² But in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia (when the Word of the LORD, spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah, was finished) the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia. And he made a proclamation through all his kingdom, and also by writing, saying,

²³ “Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia, ‘The LORD God of Heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the Earth and has Commanded me to build Him a House in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all His people with whom the LORD his God is, let him go up!’”