2 Kings 24
1 During his reign, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years. Then he turned against him and rebelled.
2 The LORD sent against him bands of Chaldeans, bands of Arameans, bands of Moabites, and bands of Ammonites. He sent them against Judah to destroy it, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken through his servants the prophets.
3 Surely this happened to Judah at the LORD’s command, to remove it from his presence, because of the sins of Manasseh and all that he had done.
4 It was also because of the innocent blood he had shed, filling Jerusalem with innocent blood. The LORD was unwilling to forgive.
5 The rest of Jehoiakim’s deeds, and all that he did, are they not recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
6 Jehoiakim died, and his son Jehoiachin reigned in his place.
7 The king of Egypt never again came out of his land, because the king of Babylon had taken everything that belonged to the king of Egypt, from the Brook of Egypt to the Euphrates River.
8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem for three months. His mother’s name was Nehushta, daughter of Elnathan, of Jerusalem.
9 He did what was evil in the LORD’s sight, just as his father had done.
10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was under siege.
11 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city while his servants were besieging it.
12 Jehoiachin king of Judah went out to meet the king of Babylon—he, his mother, his servants, his chiefs, and his officials. The king of Babylon took him captive in the eighth year of his reign.
13 From there he carried off all the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king’s house. He cut up all the gold objects that Solomon king of Israel had made for the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said.
14 He carried all Jerusalem into exile: all the chiefs, all the mighty warriors—ten thousand exiles—and all the craftsmen and smiths. No one was left except the poorest people of the land.
15 He took Jehoiachin into exile in Babylon. He led the king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officials, and the powerful people of the land into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.
16 The king of Babylon took into exile in Babylon all the men of war, seven thousand, and the craftsmen and smiths, one thousand—all of them brave men, trained for war.
17 The king of Babylon made Mattaniah, his uncle, king in his place and changed his name to Zedekiah.
18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah.
19 He did what was evil in the LORD’s sight, just as Jehoiakim had done.
20 Surely it was because of the LORD’s anger that this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, until he cast them out of his presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
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