2 Chronicles 36

1Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and made him king in Jerusalem in place of his father.

2Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.

3Then the king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and imposed on the land a levy of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

4The king of Egypt made his brother Eliakim king over Judah and Jerusalem and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But Necho took his brother Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt.

5Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh his God.

6Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him and bound him with bronze chains to take him to Babylon.

7Nebuchadnezzar also carried some of the articles of the house of Yahweh to Babylon and put them in his temple in Babylon.

8The rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, the detestable things he did, and what was found against him, are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. And his son Jehoiachin became king in his place.

9Jehoiachin was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh.

10At the turn of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, along with the precious articles of the house of Yahweh, and he made his relative Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.

11Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.

12He did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of Yahweh.

13He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to Yahweh, the God of Israel.

14Moreover, all the leaders of the priests and the people were more and more unfaithful, following all the detestable practices of the nations, and they defiled the house of Yahweh, which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

15Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place.

16But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words, and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of Yahweh rose against his people and there was no remedy.

17So he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion on young man or young woman, the old or the gray-haired. God gave them all into his hand.

18All the articles of the house of God, large and small, the treasures of the house of Yahweh, and the treasures of the king and of his officials, he brought all of it to Babylon.

19They burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem. They burned all its palaces with fire and destroyed all its precious things.

20He carried into exile in Babylon those who had escaped the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the kingdom of Persia came to power,

21to fulfill the word of Yahweh spoken by Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, until seventy years were complete.

22In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to fulfill the word of Yahweh spoken by Jeremiah, Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout his whole kingdom and also put it in writing:

23“This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: Yahweh, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has appointed me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all his people, may Yahweh his God be with him. Let him go up.”