2 Chronicles
36
- And the people of the land took Jehoahaz
son of Josiah and made him king in Jerusalem in place of his father.
- Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when
he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months.
- The king of Egypt dethroned him in Jerusalem
and imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of
gold.
- The king of Egypt made Eliakim, a brother
of Jehoahaz, king over Judah and Jerusalem and changed Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim.
But Neco took Eliakim's brother Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt.
- Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when
he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. He did evil in the
eyes of the LORD his God.
- Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacked
him and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon.
- Nebuchadnezzar also took to Babylon articles
from the temple of the LORD and put them in his temple there.
- The other events of Jehoiakim's reign, the
detestable things he did and all that was found against him, are written in
the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son succeeded
him as king.
- Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he
became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months and ten days. He did
evil in the eyes of the LORD.
- In the spring, King Nebuchadnezzar sent
for him and brought him to Babylon, together with articles of value from the
temple of the LORD, and he made Jehoiachin's uncle, Zedekiah, king over Judah
and Jerusalem.
- Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he
became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years.
- He did evil in the eyes of the LORD his
God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke the
word of the LORD.
- He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar,
who had made him take an oath in God's name. He became stiff-necked and hardened
his heart and would not turn to the LORD, the God of Israel.
- Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests
and the people became more and more unfaithful, following all the detestable
practices of the nations and defiling the temple of the LORD, which he had
consecrated in Jerusalem.
- The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent
word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on
his people and on his dwelling place.
- But they mocked God's messengers, despised
his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the LORD was aroused
against his people and there was no remedy.
- He brought up against them the king of the
Babylonians, who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary, and
spared neither young man nor young woman, old man or aged. God handed all
of them over to Nebuchadnezzar.
- He carried to Babylon all the articles from
the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the LORD'S temple
and the treasures of the king and his officials.
- They set fire to God's temple and broke
down the wall of Jerusalem; they burned all the palaces and destroyed everything
of value there.
- He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant,
who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his sons until
the kingdom of Persia came to power.
- The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all
the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed
in fulfillment of the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah.
- In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia,
in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved
the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm
and to put it in writing:
- "This is what Cyrus king of Persia
says: "'The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of
the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in
Judah. Anyone of his people among you -- may the LORD his God be with him,
and let him go up.'"
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