Jehoahaz King of Judah
1 Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and made him king in his father’s place in Jerusalem. 2 Joahaz was 23 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. 3 The king of Egypt removed him from office at Jerusalem and fined the land 7,500 pounds of silver and 75 pounds of gold. 4 The king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Joahaz his brother and carried him off to Egypt.
Jehoiakim’s Evil Reign in Judah
5 Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. 6 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him and bound him in fetters to take him to Babylon. 7 Nebuchadnezzar also took some of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon and put them in his temple at Babylon. 8 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and the abominations which he did and that which was found in him, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah, and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.
9 Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did that which was evil the sight of the Lord. 10 At the beginning of the year, king Nebuchadnezzar sent for him and brought him to Babylon, with the valuable vessels of the house of the Lord, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.
Zedekiah King of Judah
11 Zedekiah was 21 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. 12 He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord.
13 He also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by the Lord, but he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord, the God of Israel. 14 Moreover all the chiefs of the priests and the people trespassed very greatly after all the abominations of the nations, and they polluted the house of the Lord which he had made holy in Jerusalem.
The Fall of Jerusalem
15 The Lord, the God of their fathers sent warnings to them by his messengers because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place, 16 but they mocked the messengers of the Lord and despised his words and scoffed at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, until there was no remedy.
17 Therefore he brought on 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 virgin, old man or gray-headed. He gave them all into his hand.
18 All these he brought to Babylon: all the vessels of the house of the Lord, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king and of his officials. 19 They burned the house of the Lord and broke down the wall of Jerusalem and burned down all its palaces and destroyed all of its valuable vessels. 20 He took those who had escaped the sword to Babylon, and they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia, 21 to fulfill the word of the Lord by Jeremiah’s mouth, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. As long as it lay desolate, it kept Sabbath, to fulfill 70 years.
The Proclamation of Cyrus
22 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put it also in writing, saying, 23 “Cyrus king of Persia says, ‘Lord, the God of heaven, has given all the kingdoms of the earth to me, and he has commanded me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all his people, the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up.’ ”