1Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and made him king in place of his father in Jerusalem.
2Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.
3And the king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and fined the land a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
4Then the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim; but Neco took Joahaz his brother and brought him to Egypt.
5Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh his God.
6Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he bound him in bronze fetters to take him to Babylon.
7Nebuchadnezzar also brought some of the vessels of the house of Yahweh to Babylon, and he put them in his temple in Babylon.
8Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and the abominations that he did, and what 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.
9Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh.
10And at the turn of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, along with the precious vessels of the house of Yahweh, and he made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.
11Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.
12He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of Yahweh.
13He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God; he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to Yahweh, the God of Israel.
14Moreover, all the officers of the priests and the people multiplied their unfaithfulness, following all the abominations of the nations, and they defiled the house of Yahweh, which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.
15And Yahweh, the God of their fathers, sent to them by the hand of his messengers, rising early and sending—for he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place.
16But they kept mocking the messengers of God and despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of Yahweh rose against his people, until there was no remedy.
17So he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary; and he had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or aged. He gave them all into his hand.
18And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of Yahweh, and the treasures of the king and his officers—all these he brought to Babylon.
19They burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and they burned all its palaces with fire and destroyed all its precious vessels.
20And those who escaped the sword he exiled to Babylon, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia,
21to fulfill the word of Yahweh by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.
22Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of Yahweh by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, and he sent a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also in writing, saying:
23“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: ‘Yahweh, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he himself has charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people—may Yahweh his God be with him, and let him go up.’”
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