1 Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah,
and made him king in his father's stead in Jerusalem.
2 Jehoahaz was twenty
and three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in
Jerusalem.
3 And
the king of Egypt put him down at Jerusalem, and condemned the land in an
hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
4 And
the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and
turned his name to Jehoiakim. And Necho took Jehoahaz his brother, and carried
him to Egypt.
5 Jehoiakim was twenty
and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in
Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God.
6 Against
him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry
him to Babylon.
7 Nebuchadnezzar
also carried of the vessels of the house of the LORD to Babylon, and put them
in his temple at Babylon.
8 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 stead.
9 Jehoiachin was eight
years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in
Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD.
10 And
when the year was expired, king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to
Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of the LORD, and made Zedekiah
his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.
11 Zedekiah was one
and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned eleven years in
Jerusalem.
12 And
he did that which was evil
in the sight of the LORD his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah
the prophet speaking from
the mouth of the LORD.
13 And
he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God:
but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from turning unto the LORD
God of Israel.
14 Moreover
all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all
the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the LORD which he
had hallowed in Jerusalem.
15 And
the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up
betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his
dwelling place:
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, till there was no
remedy.
17 Therefore
he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with
the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man
or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them 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
brought to Babylon.
19 And
they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt
all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels
thereof.
20 And
them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they
were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia:
21 To
fulfil 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 fulfil threescore and ten years.
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, the LORD stirred up the spirit of
Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom,
and put it also
in writing, saying,
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. Who is there among
you of all his people? The LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.
