1During Jehoiakim’s reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim served him for three years. Then Jehoiakim turned and rebelled against him.
2Yahweh sent raiding parties against Jehoiakim: Chaldeans, Arameans, Moabites, and Ammonites. He sent them against Judah to destroy it, fulfilling the word Yahweh had spoken through his servants, the prophets.
3This definitely happened to Judah by Yahweh’s command, to remove them from his sight because of all the sins Manasseh committed,
4and also because of the innocent blood he shed. He filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and Yahweh would not forgive it.
5The rest of what Jehoiakim did, aren’t these things written in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?
6So Jehoiakim died and his son Jehoiachin became king in his place.
7The king of Egypt did not leave his land anymore, 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 became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for three months. His mother’s name was Nehushta, daughter of Elnathan from Jerusalem.
9He did what Yahweh considered evil, just like everything his father had done.
10At that time, the servants of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and the city was surrounded.
11While Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had his soldiers surrounding the city, he himself arrived.
12Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, along with his mother, his servants, his princes, and his officials, surrendered to the king of Babylon. The king of Babylon captured him in the eighth year of his reign.
13From there, Nebuchadnezzar took all the treasures from Yahweh’s temple and the royal palace. He also cut into pieces all the gold items that King Solomon of Israel had made for Yahweh’s temple, just as Yahweh had said would happen.
14He took all the people of Jerusalem captive, including all the princes and all the strong, brave men—ten thousand prisoners in all. He also took all the craftsmen and blacksmiths. Only the poorest people of the land were left behind.
15He took Jehoiachin to Babylon, along with the king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officials, and the leading men of the land. He took them as captives from Jerusalem to Babylon.
16All the strong men, a total of seven thousand, and the craftsmen and blacksmiths, one thousand, all of them powerful and skilled in warfare, were taken captive to Babylon by the king of Babylon.
17The king of Babylon appointed Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle (his father’s brother), as king in Jehoiachin’s place and changed his name to Zedekiah.
18Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah.
19He did what Yahweh considered evil, just as Jehoiakim had done.
20Because Yahweh was angry, these events happened to Jerusalem and Judah until he finally drove them out of his sight. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.