2 Chronicles 36:1-21

Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, then Jehoiachin Rule

1 ¹Then the people of the land took ²Joahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in place of his father in Jerusalem.

2 Joahaz was twenty-three * years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.

3 Then the king of Egypt deposed him at Jerusalem, and imposed on the land a fine of one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold.

4 The king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But ³Neco took Joahaz his brother and brought him to Egypt.

5 ⁴Jehoiakim was twenty-five * years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven * years in Jerusalem; and he did evil in the sight of the LORD his God.

6 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up ⁵against him and ⁶bound him with bronze chains to take him to Babylon.

7 ⁷Nebuchadnezzar also brought some of the articles of the house of the LORD to Babylon and put them in his temple at Babylon.

8 ⁸Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and the abominations which 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 became king in his place.

9 ⁹Jehoiachin was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem, and he did evil in the sight of the LORD.

Captivity in Babylon Begun

10 ¹⁰At the turn of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon with the valuable articles of the house of the LORD, and he made his kinsman ¹¹Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.

Zedekiah Rules in Judah

11 ¹²Zedekiah was twenty-one * years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven * years in Jerusalem.

12 He did evil in the sight of the LORD his God; ¹³he did not humble himself ¹⁴before * Jeremiah the prophet who spoke for the LORD.

13 ¹⁵He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar who had made him swear allegiance by God. But ¹⁶he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the LORD God of Israel.

14 Furthermore, all the officials of the priests and the people were very unfaithful following all the abominations of the nations; and they defiled the house of the LORD which He had sanctified in Jerusalem.

15 The LORD, the God of their fathers, ¹⁷sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place;

16 but they continually ¹⁸mocked the messengers of God, ¹⁹despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, ²⁰until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, until there was no remedy.

17 ²¹Therefore He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or infirm; He gave them all into his hand.

18 ²²All the articles 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 officers, he brought them all to Babylon.

19 Then ²³they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its fortified buildings with fire and destroyed all its valuable articles.

20 Those who had escaped from the sword he ²⁴carried away to Babylon; and ²⁵they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia,

21 ²⁶to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until ²⁷the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. ²⁸All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath ²⁹until seventy years were complete.

2 Chronicles 36:1-21 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 36

This chapter records the reigns of the four kings of Judah, and the captivity of the Jews, the short reign of Jehoahaz, deposed by the king of Egypt, and his brother Eliakim or Jehoiakim set up in his room, 2Ch 36:1-4, the reign of Jehoiakim, who was bound and carried away by Nebuchadnezzar, 2Ch 36:5-8, the reign of Jehoiachin his son, who also in a short time was taken and carried to Babylon by the same king, 2Ch 36:9,10, the reign of Zedekiah, who also rebelled against the king of Babylon, and he and his people were taken and carried captive by him for his sins, which are here mentioned, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah, and where the Jews continued until the reign of the kingdom of Persia, 2Ch 36:11-21 and the chapter is concluded with the proclamation of Cyrus king of Persia, and with which also the next book begins, 2Ch 36:22,23.

\\Josiah\\ Of whose reign, and of the three following, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah, and the account of them, from hence to the end of 2Ch 36:13, what needs explanation or reconciliation, \\See Gill on "2Ki 23:31"\\ \\See Gill on "2Ki 23:32"\\ \\See Gill on "2Ki 23:33"\\ \\See Gill on "2Ki 23:34"\\ \\See Gill on "2Ki 23:35"\\ \\See Gill on "2Ki 23:36"\\ \\See Gill on "2Ki 23:37"\\ \\See Gill on "2Ki 24:5"\\ \\See Gill on "2Ki 24:6"\\ \\See Gill on "2Ki 24:8"\\ \\See Gill on "2Ki 24:10"\\ \\See Gill on "2Ki 24:17"\\ \\See Gill on "2Ki 24:18"\\ 19953-950201-1301-2Ch36.2

Cross References

• 1. 2 Kings 23:30-34
• 2. Jeremiah 22:11
• 3. Jeremiah 22:10-12
• 4. 2 Kings 23:36, 37; Jeremiah 22:13-19; Jeremiah 26:1; Jeremiah 35:1
• 5. 2 Kings 24:1; Jeremiah 25:1-9
• 6. 2 Chronicles 33:11
• 7. 2 Kings 24:13
• 8. 2 Kings 24:5
• 9. 2 Kings 24:8-17
• 10. 2 Samuel 11:1; Jeremiah 22:25; Jeremiah 24:1; Jeremiah 29:1; Ezekiel 17:12
• 11. Jeremiah 37:1
• 12. 2 Kings 24:18-20; Jeremiah 27:1; Jeremiah 28:1; Jeremiah 52:1
• 13. 2 Chronicles 33:23
• 14. Jeremiah 21:3-7
• 15. Jeremiah 52:3; Ezekiel 17:15
• 16. 2 Chronicles 30:8
• 17. Jeremiah 7:13; Jeremiah 25:3
• 18. 2 Chronicles 30:10; Jeremiah 5:12, 13
• 19. Proverbs 1:24-32
• 20. Ezra 5:12
• 21. 2 Kings 25:1-7; Jeremiah 21:1-10
• 22. 2 Chronicles 36:7, 10
• 23. 1 Kings 9:8; 2 Kings 25:9; Jeremiah 52:13
• 24. 2 Kings 25:11
• 25. Jeremiah 27:7
• 26. Jeremiah 29:10
• 27. Leviticus 26:34
• 28. Leviticus 25:4
• 29. Jeremiah 25:11

Footnotes

• [a]. I.e. short form of Jehoahaz
• [b]. Lit "his"
• [c]. Lit "from the mouth of the LORD
• [d]. Lit "to fulfill seventy years"