II Kings 24

1In his days, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him.

2GOD let loose against him the raiding bands of the Chaldeans, Arameans, Moabites, and Ammonites—letting them loose against Judah to destroy it, in accordance with the word that GOD had spoken through the prophets—God’s servants.

3All this befell Judah at the command of GOD, who banished [them] from the divine presence because of all the sins that Manasseh had committed,

4and also because of the blood of the innocent that he shed. For he filled Jerusalem with the blood of the innocent, and GOD would not forgive.

5The other events of Jehoiakim’s reign, and all of his actions, are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Judah.

6Jehoiakim rested with his ancestors, and his son Jehoiachin succeeded him as king.

7The king of Egypt did not venture out of his country again, for the king of Babylon had seized all the land that had belonged to the king of Egypt, from the Wadi of Egypt to the River Euphrates.

8Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.

9He did what was displeasing to GOD, just as his father had done.

10At that time, the troops of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon marched against Jerusalem, and the city came under siege.

11King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon advanced against the city while his troops were besieging it.

12Thereupon King Jehoiachin of Judah, along with his mother, and his courtiers, commanders, and officers, surrendered to the king of Babylon. The king of Babylon took him captive in the eighth year of his reign.

13He carried off from Jerusalem all the treasures of the House of GOD and the treasures of the royal palace; he stripped off all the golden decorations in the Temple of GOD—which King Solomon of Israel had made—as GOD had warned.

14He exiled all of Jerusalem: all the commanders and all the warriors—ten thousand exiles—as well as all the artisans and smiths; only the poorest people in the land were left.

15He deported Jehoiachin to Babylon; and the king’s mother and wives and officers and the notables of the land were brought as exiles from Jerusalem to Babylon.

16All the able men, to the number of seven thousand—all of them warriors, trained for battle—and a thousand artisans and smiths were brought to Babylon as exiles by the king of Babylon.

17And the king of Babylon appointed Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place, changing his name to Zedekiah.

18Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

19He did what was displeasing to GOD, just as Jehoiakim had done.

20Indeed, Jerusalem and Judah were a cause of anger for GOD, so that they were cast out from the divine presence.Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.