2 Kings 24

1In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him.

2And Yahweh sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, bands of Aram, bands of Moab, and bands of the Ammonites; he sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of Yahweh that he had spoken by his servants the prophets.

3Surely this came upon Judah at the command of Yahweh, to remove them from before his face because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done.

4and also for the innocent blood that he had shed, for he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and Yahweh was not willing to forgive.

5The rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

6And Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin his son became king in his place.

7And the king of Egypt did not go out again from his land, because the king of Babylon had taken everything that belonged to the king of Egypt, from the Brook of Egypt to the Euphrates River.

8Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan, from Jerusalem.

9And he did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that his father had done.

10At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city came under siege.

11And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city while his servants were besieging it.

12Then Jehoiachin king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he and his mother and his servants and his officials and his eunuchs; and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.

13And he carried away from there all the treasures of the house of Yahweh and the treasures of the king’s house, and he cut in pieces all the gold vessels that Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of Yahweh, just as Yahweh had spoken.

14And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the officials, and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths; none remained except the poorest of the people of the land.

15And he carried Jehoiachin away to Babylon, along with the king’s mother, the king’s wives, his court officials, and the leading men of the land; he took them into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

16And all the men of valor, seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths, one thousand—all of them mighty men fit for war—the king of Babylon brought into exile to Babylon.

17And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, his uncle, king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

18Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah.

19He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

20For because of the anger of Yahweh it happened in Jerusalem and in Judah until he cast them out from his presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.