CHAPTER 36

¹And the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and made him king in his father’s stead in Jerusalem. ²Twenty-three years old was Jehoahaz when he became king, and three months he was king in Jerusalem. ³And the king of Egypt removed him in Jerusalem and imposed a levy on the land of a hundred talents of silver and talents of gold. ⁴And 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 brought him to Egypt. ⁵Twenty-five years old was Jehoiakim when he became king, and eleven years he was king in Jerusalem. And he did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD his God. ⁶Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylonia came up against him and bound him in fetters to bring him to Babylonia. ⁷And Nebuchadnezzar brought some of the vessels of the house of the LORD to Babylonia and placed them in his palace in Babylonia. ⁸And the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and his abominations that he did and what was found against him, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son was king in his stead. ⁹Eighteen years old was Jehoiachin when he became king, and three months and ten days he was king in Jerusalem. And he did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD. ¹⁰And at the turn of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and had him brought to Babylonia with the precious vessels of the house of the LORD, and he made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem. ¹¹Twenty-one years old was Zedekiah when he became king, and eleven years he was king in Jerusalem. ¹²And he did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the LORD. ¹³And also against King Nebuchadnezzar he rebelled, and he was too stiff-necked and too hard-hearted to turn back to the LORD God of Israel. ¹⁴And also all the priestly officers greatly betrayed as with all the abominations of the nations, and they defiled the house of the LORD that He had consecrated in Jerusalem. ¹⁵And the LORD God of their fathers had sent His messengers to them, constantly sending, for He had pity on His people and on His abode. ¹⁶But they insulted God’s messengers and scorned His words and mocked His prophets until God’s wrath came up against His people beyond remedy. ¹⁷And He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, and he slew their young men by the sword in their sanctuary and had no pity on young man and virgin, elder and graybeard—everything God gave into his hand. ¹⁸And 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 his officers—he brought all to Babylonia. ¹⁹And they burned the house of God and shattered the walls of Jerusalem, and all its citadels they burned in fire, destroying all its precious vessels. ²⁰And he exiled the survivors of the sword to Babylonia, and they became slaves to him and to his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia ²¹to fulfill the word of the LORD through Jeremiah, “Until the land expiates its sabbath years, all the days of the desolation that it kept a sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.”

²²And in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, as the word of the LORD through Jeremiah was completed, the LORD roused the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, and he sent round an oral proclamation through all his kingdom, and also a writing, saying, ²³“Thus said Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth has the LORD God of the heavens given me, and He has charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever be among you of all His people, may the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.”