2 Kings 24; 2 Kings 25; 2 Chronicles 36

1 In his days Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon came up, and Joakim became his servant three years: then again he rebelled against him.

2 And the Lord sent against him the rovers of the Chaldees, and the rovers of Syria, and the rovers of Moab, and the rovers of the children of Ammon: and he sent them against Juda, to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord, which he had spoken by his servants, the prophets.

3 And this came by the word of the Lord against Juda, to remove them from before him for all the sins of Manasses which he did;

4 And for the innocent blood that he shed, filling Jerusalem with innocent blood: and therefore the Lord would not be appeased.

5 But the rest of the acts of Joakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda? And Joakim slept with his fathers:

6 And Joachin, his son, reigned in his stead.

7 And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his own country: for the king of Babylon had taken all that had belonged to the king of Egypt, from the river of Egypt, unto the river Euphrates.

8 Joachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Nohesta, the daughter of Elnathan, of Jerusalem.

9 And he did evil before the Lord, according to all that his father had done.

10 At that time the servants of Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, came up against Jerusalem, and the city was surrounded with their forts.

11 And Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, came to the city, with his servants, to assault it.

12 And Joachin, king of Juda, went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his nobles, and his eunuchs: and the king of Babylon received him in the eighth year of his reign.

13 And he brought out from thence all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king’s house: and he cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon, king of Israel, had made in the temple of the Lord, according to the word of the Lord.

14 And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the valiant men of the army, to the number of ten thousand, into captivity: and every artificer and smith: and none were left, but the poor sort of the people of the land.

15 And he carried away Joachin into Babylon, and the king’s mother, and the king’s wives, and his eunuchs: and the judges of the land he carried into captivity, from Jerusalem, into Babylon.

16 And all the strong men, seven thousand, and the artificers, and the smiths, a thousand, all that were valiant men, and fit for war: and the king of Babylon led them captives into Babylon.

17 And he appointed Matthanias, his uncle, in his stead: and called his name Sedecias.

18 Sedecias was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Amital, the daughter of Jeremias, of Lobna.

19 And he did evil before the Lord, according to all that Joakim had done.

20 For the Lord was angry against Jerusalem and against Juda, till he cast them out from his face: and Sedecias revolted from the king of Babylon.

1 And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, the tenth day of the month, that Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem: and they surrounded it: and raised works round about it.

2 And the city was shut up and besieged till the eleventh year of king Sedecias,

3 The ninth day of the month: and a famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.

4 And a breach was made into the city: and all the men of war fled in the night between the two walls by the king’s garden (now the Chaldees besieged the city round about), and Sedecias fled by the way that leadeth to the plains of the wilderness.

5 And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all the warriors that were with him were scattered, and left him:

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

7 And he slew the sons of Sedecias before his face, and he put out his eyes, and bound him with chains, and brought him to Babylon.

8 In the fifth month, the seventh day of the month, the same is the nineteenth year of the king of Babylon, came Nabuzardan, commander of the army, a servant of the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem.

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

10 And all the army of the Chaldees, which was with the commander of the troops, broke down the walls of Jerusalem round about.

11 And Nabuzardan, the commander of the army, carried away the rest of the people, that remained in the city, and the fugitives, that had gone over to the king of Babylon, and the remnant of the common people.

12 But of the poor of the land he left some dressers of vines and husbandmen.

13 And the pillars of brass that were in the temple of the Lord, and the bases, and the sea of brass, which was in the house of the Lord, the Chaldees broke in pieces, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon.

14 They took away also the pots of brass, and the mazers, and the forks, and the cups, and the mortars, and all the vessels of brass, with which they ministered.

15 Moreover also the censers, and the bowls, such as were of gold in gold: and such as were of silver in silver, the general of the army took away.

16 That is, two pillars, one sea, and the bases which Solomon had made in the temple of the Lord: the brass of all these vessels was without weight.

17 One pillar was eighteen cubits high: and the chapiter of brass, which was upon it, was three cubits high: and the network, and the pomegranates that were upon the chapiter of the pillar, were all of brass: and the second pillar had the like adorning.

18 And the general of the army took Seraias, the chief priest, and Sophonias, the second priest, and three doorkeepers:

19 And out of the city one eunuch, who was captain over the men of war: and five men of them who had stood before the king, whom he found in the city, and Sopher, the captain of the army, who exercised the young soldiers of the people of the land: and threescore men of the common people, who were found in the city:

20 These Nabuzardan, the general of the army, took away, and carried them to the king of Babylon, to Reblatha.

21 And the king of Babylon smote them, and slew them at Reblatha, in the land of Emath: so Juda was carried away out of their land.

22 But over the people that remained in the land of Juda, which Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, had left, he gave the government to Godolias, the son of Ahicam, the son of Saphan.

23 And when all the captains of the soldiers had heard this, they and the men that were with them, to wit, that the king of Babylon had made Godolias governor they came to Godolias to Maspha, Ismael, the son of Nathanias, and Johanan, the son of Caree, and Saraia, the son of Thanehumeth, the Netophathite, and Jezonias, the son of Maachathi, they and their men.

24 And Godolias swore to them and to their men, saying: Be not afraid to serve the Chaldees: stay 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 Ismael, the son of Nathanias, the son of Elisama, of the seed royal came, and ten men with him, and smote Godolias; so that he died: and also the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him in Maspha.

26 And all the people, both little and great, and the captains of the soldiers, rising up, went to Egypt, fearing the Chaldees.

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

28 And he spoke kindly to him: and he set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon.

29 And he changed his garments which he had in prison, and he ate bread always before him, all the days of his life.

30 And he appointed him a continual allowance, which was also given him by the king, day by day, all the days of his life.

1 Then the people of the land took Joachaz the son of Josias, and made him king instead of his father in Jerusalem.

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

3 And the king of Egypt came to Jerusalem, and deposed him, and condemned the land in a hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.

4 And he made Eliakim his brother king in his stead, over Juda and Jerusalem: and he turned his name to Joakim: but he took Joachaz with him and carried him away into Egypt.

5 Joakim was five and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did evil before the Lord his God.

6 Against him came up Nabuchodonosor king of the Chaldeans, and led him bound in chains into Babylon.

7 And he carried also thither the vessels of the Lord, and put them in his temple.

8 But the rest of the acts of Joakim, and his abominations, which he wrought, and the things that were found in him, are contained in the book of the kings of Juda and Israel. And Joachin his son reigned in his stead.

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

10 And at the return of the year, king Nabuchodonosor sent, and brought him to Babylon, carrying away at the same time the most precious vessels of the house of the Lord: and he made Sedecias his uncle king over Juda and Jerusalem.

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

12 And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord his God, and did not reverence the face of Jeremias the prophet speaking to him from the mouth of the Lord.

13 He also revolted from king Nabuchodonosor, who had made him swear by God: and he hardened his neck and his heart, from returning to the Lord the God of Israel.

14 Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people wickedly transgressed according to all the abominations of the Gentiles: and they defiled the house of the Lord, which he had sanctified to himself in Jerusalem.

15 And the Lord the God of their fathers sent to them, by the hand of his messengers, rising early, and daily admonishing them: because he spared his people and his dwelling place.

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

17 For he brought upon them the king of the Chaldeans, and he slew their young men with the sword in the house of his sanctuary, he had no compassion on young man, or maiden, old man or even him that stooped for age, but he delivered them all into his hands.

18 And all the vessels of the house of Lord, great and small, and the treasures of the temple and of the king, and of the princes he carried away to Babylon.

19 And the enemies set fire to the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burnt all the towers, and what soever was precious they destroyed.

20 Whosoever escaped the sword, was led into Babylon, and there served the king and his sons, till the reign of the king of Persia,

21 That the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremias might be fulfilled, and the land might keep her sabbaths: for all the days of the desolation she kept a sabbath, till the seventy years were expired.

22 But in the first year of Cyrus king of the Persians, to fulfil the word of the Lord, which he had spoken by the mouth of Jeremias, the Lord stirred up the heart of Cyrus, king of the Persians: who commanded it to be proclaimed through all his kingdom, and by writing also, saying:

23 Thus saith Cyrus king of the Persians: All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord the God of heaven given to me, and he hath charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judea: who is there among you of all his people? The Lord his God be with him, and let him go up.