Manasseh Reigns in Judah

21 ^(A)Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hephzibah. ² And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(B)according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. ³ For he rebuilt the high places ^(C)that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made ^(D)an Asherah, ^(E)as Ahab king of Israel had done, ^(F)and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. ^4 (G)And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, ^(H)“In Jerusalem will I put my name.” ⁵ And he built altars ^(I)for all the host of heaven in ^(J)the two courts of the house of the Lord. ^6 (K)And he burned his son as an offering^[a] and ^(L)used fortune-telling and ^(M)omens and dealt ^(N)with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. ⁷ And the carved image of ^(O)Asherah that he had made he set in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, ^(P)and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. ^8 (Q)And I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander anymore out of the land that I gave to their fathers, if only they will be careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the Law that my servant Moses commanded them.” ⁹ But they did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations had done whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel.

Manasseh's Idolatry Denounced

¹⁰ And the Lord said by his servants the prophets, ^11 (R)“Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations and has done things ^(S)more evil than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, ^(T)and has made Judah also to sin ^(U)with his idols, ¹² therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such disaster^[b] that the ears of everyone who hears of it ^(V)will tingle. ^13 (W)And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria, and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. ¹⁴ And I will forsake the remnant of my heritage and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies, ¹⁵ because they have done what is evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.”

^16 (X)Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin ^(Y)that he made Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

^17 (Z)Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and all that he did, and the sin that he committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ^18 (AA)And Manasseh slept with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his house, ^(AB)in the garden of Uzza, and Amon his son reigned in his place.

Amon Reigns in Judah

¹⁹ Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. ²⁰ And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(AC)as Manasseh his father had done. ²¹ He walked in all the way in which his father walked and served ^(AD)the idols that his father served and worshiped them. ^22 (AE)He abandoned the Lord, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the Lord. ²³ And the servants of Amon conspired against him and put the king to death in his house. ²⁴ But the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place. ²⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Amon that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ²⁶ And he was buried in his tomb ^(AF)in the garden of Uzza, and Josiah his son reigned in his place.

Josiah's Reforms

23 ^(A)Then the king sent, and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem were gathered to him. ² And the king went up to the house of the Lord, and with him all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the prophets, all the people, both small and great. And ^(B)he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant ^(C)that had been found in the house of the Lord. ³ And the king stood ^(D)by the pillar and ^(E)made a covenant before the Lord, ^(F)to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people joined in the covenant.

⁴ And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests ^(G)of the second order and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels made for ^(H)Baal, for ^(I)Asherah, and for all the host of heaven. ^(J)He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. ⁵ And he deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and the moon and the constellations ^(K)and all the host of the heavens. ⁶ And he brought out ^(L)the Asherah from the house of the Lord, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, ^(M)and burned it at the brook Kidron ^(N)and beat it to dust and cast the dust of it upon the graves ^(O)of the common people. ⁷ And he broke down the houses of ^(P)the male cult prostitutes who were in the house of the Lord, ^(Q)where the women wove hangings for ^(R)the Asherah. ⁸ And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had made offerings, from ^(S)Geba to Beersheba. And he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on one's left at the gate of the city. ^9 (T)However, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers. ¹⁰ And he defiled ^(U)Topheth, which is ^(V)in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, ^(W)that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to ^(X)Molech.^{[a] 11} And he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the precincts.^[b] And he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. ¹² And the altars ^(Y)on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars ^(Z)that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, he pulled down and broke in pieces^[c] and cast the dust of them ^(AA)into the brook Kidron. ¹³ And the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of ^(AB)the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for ^(AC)Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for ^(AD)Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for ^(AE)Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. ¹⁴ And he broke in pieces the ^(AF)pillars and cut down the Asherim and filled their places with the bones of men.

¹⁵ Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected ^(AG)by Jeroboam the son of Nebat, ^(AH)who made Israel to sin, ^(AI)that altar with the high place he pulled down and burned,^[d] reducing it to dust. He also burned the Asherah. ¹⁶ And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it, ^(AJ)according to the word of the Lord that the man of God proclaimed, who had predicted these things. ¹⁷ Then he said, “What is that monument that I see?” And the men of the city told him, ^(AK)“It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted^[e] these things that you have done against the altar at Bethel.” ¹⁸ And he said, “Let him be; let no man move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones ^(AL)of the prophet who came out of Samaria. ¹⁹ And Josiah removed all the shrines also of the high places that were ^(AM)in the cities of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking the Lord to anger. He did to them according to all that he had done at Bethel. ²⁰ And ^(AN)he sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, ^(AO)and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

Josiah Restores the Passover

²¹ And the king commanded all the people, ^(AP)“Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, ^(AQ)as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” ^22 (AR)For no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah. ²³ But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem.

²⁴ Moreover, Josiah put away ^(AS)the mediums and the necromancers and ^(AT)the household gods and ^(AU)the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might establish ^(AV)the words of the law that were written in the book ^(AW)that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. ^25 (AX)Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.

²⁶ Still the Lord did not turn from the burning of his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against Judah, ^(AY)because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. ²⁷ And the Lord said, “I will remove Judah also out of my sight, ^(AZ)as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, ^(BA)and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.”

Josiah's Death in Battle

²⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ^29 (BB)In his days ^(BC)Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates. King Josiah went to meet him, and Pharaoh Neco killed him at ^(BD)Megiddo, as soon as he saw him. ^30 (BE)And his servants carried him dead in a chariot from ^(BF)Megiddo and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. ^(BG)And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's place.

Jehoahaz's Reign and Captivity

^31 (BH)Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was ^(BI)Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. ³² And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(BJ)according to all that his fathers had done. ³³ And ^(BK)Pharaoh Neco put him in bonds at ^(BL)Riblah in the land of ^(BM)Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents^[f] of silver and a talent of gold. ³⁴ And ^(BN)Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and ^(BO)changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away, ^(BP)and he came to Egypt and died there. ³⁵ And Jehoiakim ^(BQ)gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco.

Jehoiakim Reigns in Judah

^36 (BR)Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. ³⁷ And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(BS)according to all that his fathers had done.

24 ^(BT)In his days, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him. ² And the Lord sent against him bands of the ^(BU)Chaldeans and ^(BV)bands of the Syrians and bands of the Moabites and bands of the Ammonites, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, ^(BW)according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by his servants the prophets. ³ Surely this came upon Judah at the command of the Lord, to remove them out of his sight, ^(BX)for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, ⁴ and also ^(BY)for the innocent blood that he had shed. For he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord would not pardon. ^5 (BZ)Now the rest of the deeds 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 ^(CA)slept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place. ^7 (CB)And the king of Egypt did not come again out of his land, ^(CC)for the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt ^(CD)from the Brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates.

Jehoiachin Reigns in Judah

^8 (CE)Jehoiachin was ^(CF)eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. ⁹ And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(CG)according to all that his father had done.

Jerusalem Captured

¹⁰ At that time the servants of ^(CH)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. ¹¹ And ^(CI)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city while his servants were besieging it, ^12 (CJ)and Jehoiachin the king of Judah gave himself up to the king of Babylon, himself and his mother and his servants and his officials and his palace officials. ^(CK)The king of Babylon took him prisoner ^(CL)in the eighth year of his reign ¹³ and carried off all the treasures of the house of the Lord ^(CM)and the treasures of the king's house, ^(CN)and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold in the temple of the Lord, ^(CO)which Solomon king of Israel had made, ^(CP)as the Lord had foretold. ^14 (CQ)He carried away all Jerusalem and all the officials and all the mighty men of valor, ^(CR)10,000 captives, ^(CS)and all the craftsmen and the smiths. None remained, ^(CT)except the poorest people of the land. ^15 (CU)And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon. The king's mother, the king's wives, his officials, and the chief men of the land he took into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. ¹⁶ And the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon all the men of valor, ^(CV)7,000, and the craftsmen and the metal workers, 1,000, all of them strong and fit for war. ^17 (CW)And the king of Babylon ^(CX)made Mattaniah, ^(CY)Jehoiachin's uncle, king in his place, ^(CZ)and changed his name to Zedekiah.

Zedekiah Reigns in Judah

^18 (DA)Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was ^(DB)Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. ¹⁹ And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(DC)according to all that Jehoiakim had done. ²⁰ For because of the anger of the Lord it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast them out from his presence.

^(DD)And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

Fall and Captivity of Judah

25 ^(DE)And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, ^(DF)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem and laid siege to it. ^(DG)And they built siegeworks all around it. ² So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. ³ On the ninth day of the fourth month ^(DH)the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. ⁴ Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, by ^(DI)the king's garden, and ^(DJ)the Chaldeans were around the city. And they went in the direction of the ^(DK)Arabah. ⁵ But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him. ⁶ Then they captured the king ^(DL)and brought him up to the king of Babylon at ^(DM)Riblah, and they passed sentence on him. ⁷ They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, ^(DN)and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains and took him to Babylon.

^8 (DO)In the fifth month, on ^(DP)the seventh day of the month—that was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the captain of the bodyguard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. ^9 (DQ)And he burned the house of the Lord ^(DR)and the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. ¹⁰ And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, ^(DS)broke down the walls around Jerusalem. ^11 (DT)And the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile. ¹² But the captain of the guard left ^(DU)some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.

^13 (DV)And the pillars ^(DW)of bronze that were in the house of the Lord, and ^(DX)the stands and ^(DY)the bronze sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces and carried the bronze to Babylon. ^14 (DZ)And they took away the pots and the shovels and the snuffers and the dishes for incense and all the vessels of bronze used in the temple service, ¹⁵ the fire pans also and the bowls. What was of gold the captain of the guard took away as gold, and what was of silver, as silver. ¹⁶ As for the two pillars, the one sea, and the stands that Solomon had made for the house of the Lord, ^(EA)the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weight. ^17 (EB)The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits,^[g] and on it was a capital of bronze. The height of the capital was three cubits. A latticework and pomegranates, all of bronze, were all around the capital. And the second pillar had the same, with the latticework.

^18 (EC)And the captain of the guard took ^(ED)Seraiah the chief priest and ^(EE)Zephaniah the second priest and the three keepers of the threshold; ¹⁹ and from the city he took an officer who had been in command of the men of war, and ^(EF)five men of the king's council who were found in the city; and the secretary of the commander of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the city. ²⁰ And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at ^(EG)Riblah. ²¹ And the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at ^(EH)Riblah in the land of Hamath. ^(EI)So Judah was taken into exile out of its land.

Gedaliah Made Governor of Judah

²² And over the people who remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, he appointed ^(EJ)Gedaliah the son of ^(EK)Ahikam, son of Shaphan, governor. ^23 (EL)Now when all the captains and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah governor, they came with their men to Gedaliah at ^(EM)Mizpah, namely, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite. ²⁴ And Gedaliah swore to them and their men, saying, “Do not be afraid because of the Chaldean officials. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.” ^25 (EN)But in the seventh month, ^(EO)Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal family, came with ten men and struck down Gedaliah and put him to death along with the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah. ^26 (EP)Then all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces arose and went to Egypt, for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

Jehoiachin Released from Prison

^27 (EQ)And in the thirty-seventh year of ^(ER)the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, graciously ^(ES)freed^[h] Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. ²⁸ And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon. ²⁹ So Jehoiachin put off his prison garments. And every day of his life ^(ET)he dined regularly at the king's table, ³⁰ and for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, according to his daily needs, as long as he lived.

Manasseh Reigns in Judah

33 ^(A)Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. ² And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to ^(B)the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. ³ For he rebuilt the high places ^(C)that his father Hezekiah had broken down, and he erected altars to the Baals, and made ^(D)Asheroth, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. ⁴ And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, ^(E)“In Jerusalem shall my name be forever.” ⁵ And he built altars for all the host of heaven in ^(F)the two courts of the house of the Lord. ^6 (G)And he burned his sons as an offering ^(H)in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and ^(I)used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with ^(J)mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. ⁷ And ^(K)the carved image of the idol that he had made he set in the house of God, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, ^(L)I will put my name forever, ⁸ and I will no more remove the foot of Israel from the land ^(M)that I appointed for your fathers, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them, all the law, the statutes, and the rules given through Moses.” ⁹ Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel.

Manasseh's Repentance

¹⁰ The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention. ^11 (N)Therefore the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and ^(O)bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon. ¹² And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord his God ^(P)and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. ¹³ He prayed to him, and ^(Q)God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. ^(R)Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.

¹⁴ Afterward he built an outer wall for the city of David west of ^(S)Gihon, in the valley, and for the entrance into ^(T)the Fish Gate, and carried it around ^(U)Ophel, and raised it to a very great height. He also put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities in Judah. ¹⁵ And ^(V)he took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside of the city. ¹⁶ He also restored the altar of the Lord and offered on it sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving, and he commanded Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel. ^17 (W)Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed at the high places, but only to the Lord their God.

¹⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and ^(X)his prayer to his God, and the words of ^(Y)the seers who spoke to him in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, behold, they are in the ^(Z)Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. ¹⁹ And his prayer, and how ^(AA)God was moved by his entreaty, and all his sin and his faithlessness, and the sites ^(AB)on which he built high places and set up the ^(AC)Asherim and the images, before ^(AD)he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the Chronicles of the Seers.^{[a] 20} So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his house, and Amon his son reigned in his place.

Amon's Reign and Death

^21 (AE)Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. ²² And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as Manasseh his father had done. Amon sacrificed to all the images ^(AF)that Manasseh his father had made, and served them. ²³ And he did not humble himself before the Lord, ^(AG)as Manasseh his father had humbled himself, but this Amon incurred guilt more and more. ²⁴ And his servants conspired against him and put him to death in his house. ²⁵ But the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon. And the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place.

Judah's Decline

36 ^(A)The people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and made him king in his father's place in Jerusalem. ² Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. ³ Then the king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and ^(B)laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent^[a] of gold. ⁴ And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Jehoahaz his brother and carried him to Egypt.

^5 (C)Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. ^6 (D)Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon ^(E)and bound him in chains ^(F)to take him to Babylon. ^7 (G)Nebuchadnezzar also carried part of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon and put them in his palace in Babylon. ^8 (H)Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and the abominations that he did, and what was found against him, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.

^9 (I)Jehoiachin was eighteen^[b] 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 the Lord. ¹⁰ In ^(J)the spring of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, ^(K)with the precious vessels of the house of the Lord, and made his brother ^(L)Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.

^11 (M)Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. ¹² He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. He did not humble himself before ^(N)Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the Lord. ^13 (O)He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. ^(P)He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹⁴ All the officers of the priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations. And they polluted the house of the Lord that he had made holy in Jerusalem.

¹⁵ The Lord, the God of their fathers, ^(Q)sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. ^16 (R)But they kept mocking the messengers of God, ^(S)despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, ^(T)until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy.

Jerusalem Captured and Burned

^17 (U)Therefore 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 virgin, old man or aged. He gave them all into his hand. ^18 (V)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 (W)And they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem and burned all its palaces with fire and destroyed all its precious vessels. ²⁰ He ^(X)took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, ^(Y)and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, ²¹ to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had ^(Z)enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate ^(AA)it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.

The Proclamation of Cyrus

^22 (AB)Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, ^(AC)that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, ^(AD)the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: ²³ “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God be with him. Let him go up.’”

1 The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one ^(A)of the priests who were in ^(B)Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, ² to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of ^(C)Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in ^(D)the thirteenth year of his reign. ³ It came also in the days of ^(E)Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, and ^(F)until the end of the eleventh year of ^(G)Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, ^(H)until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month.

The Call of Jeremiah

⁴ Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

⁶ Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, ^(L)I do not know how to speak, ^(M)for I am only a youth.” ⁷ But the Lord said to me,

^9 (Q)Then the Lord put out his hand and ^(R)touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me,

¹¹ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ^(V)“Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see an almond^[a] branch.” ¹² Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.”

¹³ The word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see ^(W)a boiling pot, facing away ^(X)from the north.” ¹⁴ Then the Lord said to me, ^(Y)“Out of the north disaster^[b] shall be let loose upon all the inhabitants of the land. ¹⁵ For behold, ^(Z)I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, declares the Lord, ^(AA)and they shall come, and every one shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around and against all the cities of Judah. ¹⁶ And ^(AB)I will declare my judgments against them, for all their evil ^(AC)in forsaking me. ^(AD)They have made offerings to other gods and ^(AE)worshiped the works of their own hands. ¹⁷ But you, ^(AF)dress yourself for work;^[c] arise, and ^(AG)say to them everything that I command you. ^(AH)Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them. ¹⁸ And I, behold, I make you this day ^(AI)a fortified city, ^(AJ)an iron pillar, and ^(AK)bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land. ^19 (AL)They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for ^(AM)I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you.”

Israel Forsakes the Lord

2 The word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord,

⁴ Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel. ⁵ Thus says the Lord:

³ For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:

Disaster from the North

⁵ Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say,

⁹ “In that day, declares the Lord, ^(T)courage shall fail both king and officials. The priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded.” ¹⁰ Then I said, “Ah, Lord God, ^(U)surely you have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘It shall be well with you,’ whereas the sword has reached their very life.”

¹¹ At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A hot wind from ^(V)the bare heights in the desert toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow or cleanse, ¹² a wind too full for this comes for me. Now it is I who ^(W)speak in judgment upon them.”

Anguish over Judah's Desolation