2 Kings 24

Translated from the Hebrew of the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Tap a verse to see why it reads as it does. Tap a small letter to read its footnote.

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Jehoiakim and Babylon

¹In Jehoiakim’s days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him. ²The LORD sent raiding bands of Chaldeans, Arameans, Moabites and Ammonites against him. He sent them against Judah to destroy it, in keeping with the word the LORD had spoken through his servants the prophets. ³Surely it was at the command of the LORD that this came upon Judah, to put them away from his presence because of Manasseh’s sins, all that he had done, ⁴and also because of the innocent blood he had shed. He had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD was not willing to forgive. ⁵The rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are written in the Book of the History of the Kings of Judah. ⁶Jehoiakim rested with his ancestors, and his son Jehoiachin became king in his place. ⁷The king of Egypt did not again march out from his own land, for the king of Babylon had taken everything that had belonged to the king of Egypt, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Euphrates River.

Jehoiachin is taken to Babylon

⁸Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan from Jerusalem. ⁹He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, just as his father had done. ¹⁰At that time the officers of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon advanced on Jerusalem, and the city came under siege. ¹¹Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city himself while his officers were besieging it. ¹²Jehoiachin king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon in surrender, he and his mother, his servants, his officials and his court officers. The king of Babylon took him prisoner in the eighth year of his reign. ¹³He carried off from there all the treasures of the house of the LORD and those of the king’s palace, and he cut up all the gold vessels that Solomon king of Israel had made for the temple of the LORD, just as the LORD had said. ¹⁴He carried all Jerusalem into exile: all the officials and all the mighty warriors, 10,000 captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths. No one was left except the poorest people of the land. ¹⁵He carried Jehoiachin into exile to Babylon. The king’s mother, the king’s wives, his court officers and the leading men of the land he also took into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. ¹⁶The king of Babylon brought to Babylon as exiles all the men of valor, 7,000, and the craftsmen and smiths, a thousand, all of them strong men fit for war. ¹⁷The king of Babylon made Jehoiachin’s uncle Mattaniah king in his place and changed his name to Zedekiah.

Zedekiah king of Judah

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 sight of the LORD, just as Jehoiakim had done. ²⁰It was because of the anger of the LORD that all this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, until he cast them out of his presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.