24 In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him.

² And the Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by His servants the prophets.

³ Surely at the commandment of the Lord came this upon Judah, to remove them out of His sight for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did,

⁴ and also for the innocent blood that he shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which the Lord would not pardon.

⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

⁶ So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.

⁷ And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land, for the king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the River Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt.

⁸ Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. And his mother’s name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.

⁹ And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father had done.

¹⁰ At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.

¹¹ And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants besieged it.

¹² And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he and his mother, and his servants and his princes and his officers; and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.

¹⁴ And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths. None remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land.

¹⁵ And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king’s mother, and the king’s wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land: those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.

¹⁶ And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths, a thousand, all who were strong and apt for war, even these the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.

¹⁷ And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his father’s brother king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

¹⁸ Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

¹⁹ And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

²⁰ For through the anger of the Lord it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until He had cast them out from His presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

25 And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his host, against Jerusalem and pitched camp against it; and they built forts against it round about.

² And the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

³ And on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.

⁴ And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the king’s garden (now the Chaldeans were against the city round about); and the king went the way toward the plain.

⁵ And the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army were scattered from him.

⁶ So they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah, and they gave judgment upon him.

⁷ And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass and carried him to Babylon.

⁸ And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem.

⁹ And he burned the house of the Lord, and the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man’s house burned he with fire.

¹⁰ And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down the walls of Jerusalem round about.

¹¹ Now the rest of the people who were left in the city and the fugitives who fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude, did Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carry away.

¹² But the captain of the guard left some of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen.

¹³ And the pillars of brass that were in the house of the Lord, and the bases and the brazen sea that was in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces and carried the brass of them to Babylon.

¹⁴ And the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away.

¹⁵ And the firepans and the bowls, and such things as were of gold, all gold, and of silver, all silver, the captain of the guard took away.

¹⁶ The two pillars, one sea, and the bases which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord, the brass of all these vessels was without weight.

¹⁷ The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the capital upon it was brass; and the height of the capital was three cubits, and the wreathen work and pomegranates upon the capital round about, all of brass; and like unto these had the second pillar with wreathen work.

¹⁸ And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest and Zephaniah the second priest and the three keepers of the door.

¹⁹ And out of the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war, and five men of those who were in the king’s presence who were found in the city, and the principal scribe of the host who mustered the people of the land, and threescore men of the people of the land who were found in the city;

²⁰ and Nebuzaradan captain of the guard took these and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah.

²¹ And the king of Babylon smote them, and slew them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away out of their land.

²² And as for the people who remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ruler.

²³ And when all the captains of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, there came to Gedaliah at Mizpah even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Careah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men.

²⁴ And Gedaliah swore to them and to their men, and said unto them, “Fear not to be the servants of the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.”

²⁵ But it came to pass in the seventh month that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, came and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah so that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.

²⁶ And all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose and came to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

²⁷ And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison.

²⁸ And he spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon,

²⁹ and changed his prison garments. And he ate bread continually before him all the days of his life;

³⁰ and his allowance was a continual allowance given him from the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life.

36 Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father’s stead in Jerusalem.

² Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.

³ And the king of Egypt deposed him at Jerusalem, and levied upon the land a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

⁴ And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Necho took Jehoahaz his brother and carried him to Egypt.

⁵ Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God.

⁶ Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon.

⁷ Nebuchadnezzar also carried part 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 his abominations which he did, and that which was found in him, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah; and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.

⁹ Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem; and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.

¹⁰ And when the year had expired, King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon with the goodly vessels of the house of the Lord, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.

¹¹ Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.

¹² And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet who spoke from the mouth of the Lord.

¹³ And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God; but he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart from turning unto the Lord God of Israel.

¹⁴ Moreover all the chief of the priests and the people transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen, and polluted the house of the Lord which He had hallowed in Jerusalem.

¹⁵ And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by His messengers, rising up early, and sending, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place.

¹⁶ But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and misused His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy.

¹⁷ Therefore He brought upon them the king of the Chaldeans, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped with age; He gave them all into his hand.

¹⁸ And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon.

¹⁹ And they burned the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all the palaces thereof with fire and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof.

²⁰ And those who had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon where 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 the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths; for as long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years.

²² Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, 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 “Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me; and He hath charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all His people? The Lord his God be with him, and let him go up.”