New Century Version NCV
The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
1 The people of Judah chose Josiah's son Jehoahaz and made him king in Jerusalem in his father's place.
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Then the people of the land took Y'ho'achaz the son of Yoshiyahu and made him king in his father's place, in Yerushalayim.
2 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he was king in Jerusalem for three months.
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Y'ho'achaz was twenty-three years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for three months in Yerushalayim.
3 Then King Neco of Egypt removed Jehoahaz from being king in Jerusalem. Neco made the people of Judah pay about seventy-five hundred pounds of silver and about seventy-five pounds of gold.
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But the king of Egypt deposed him in Yerushalayim and imposed a penalty on the land of three-and-a-third tons of silver and sixty-six pounds of gold.
4 The king of Egypt made Jehoahaz's brother Eliakim the king of Judah and Jerusalem and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took his brother Jehoahaz to Egypt.
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Then the king of Egypt made Elyakim his brother king over Y'hudah and Yerushalayim, changing his name to Y'hoyakim; N'kho took Yo'achaz his brother and carried him off to Egypt.
5 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he was king in Jerusalem for eleven years. He did what the Lord his God said was wrong.
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Y'hoyakim was twenty-five years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for eleven years in Yerushalayim. He did what was evil from the perspective of ADONAI his God.
6 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked Judah, captured Jehoiakim, put bronze chains on him, and took him to Babylon.
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N'vukhadnetzar king of Bavel attacked him and bound him in chains to carry him off to Bavel.
7 Nebuchadnezzar removed some of the things from the Temple of the Lord, took them to Babylon, and put them in his own palace.
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N'vukhadnetzar also carried the articles in the house of ADONAI away to Bavel and put them in his temple in Bavel.
8 The other things Jehoiakim did as king, the hateful things he did, and everything he was guilty of doing, are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiakim's son Jehoiachin became king in his place.
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Other activities of Y'hoyakim, including all the abominations he did publicly and those discovered later, are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Isra'el and Y'hudah. Then Y'hoyakhin his son took his place as king.
9 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king of Judah, and he was king in Jerusalem for three months and ten days. He did what the Lord said was wrong.
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Y'hoyakhin was eight years old when he began his reign, and he ruled in Yerushalayim for three months and ten days. He did what was evil from ADONAI's perspective.
10 In the spring King Nebuchadnezzar sent for Jehoiachin and brought him and some valuable treasures from the Temple of the Lord to Babylon. Then Nebuchadnezzar made Jehoiachin's uncle Zedekiah the king of Judah and Jerusalem.
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In the spring, King N'vukhadnetzar sent and had him brought to Bavel together with the valuable articles from the house of ADONAI, and made Tzedekyah his brother king over Y'hudah and Yerushalayim.
11 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king of Judah, and he was king in Jerusalem for eleven years.
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Tzedekyah was twenty-one years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for eleven years in Yerushalayim.
12 Zedekiah did what the Lord his God said was wrong. The prophet Jeremiah spoke messages from the Lord, but Zedekiah did not obey.
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He did what was evil from the perspective of ADONAI his God. He did not humble himself before Yirmeyahu the prophet speaking on behalf of ADONAI.
13 Zedekiah turned against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had forced him to swear in God's name to be loyal to him. But Zedekiah became stubborn and refused to obey the Lord, the God of Israel.
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He also rebelled against King N'vukhadnetzar, who had made him swear loyalty to him by God; instead, he became stiffnecked and hardhearted, refusing to turn to ADONAI the God of Isra'el.
14 Also, all the leaders of the priests and the people of Judah became more wicked, following the evil example of the other nations. The Lord had made the Temple in Jerusalem holy, but the leaders made it unholy.
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In addition, the chief cohanim and the people grew increasingly unfaithful, following all the abominable practices of the other nations; and they polluted the house of ADONAI, which he had consecrated in Yerushalayim.
15 The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent prophets again and again to warn his people, because he had pity on them and on his Temple.
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Time after time, and frequently, ADONAI, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers; because he had compassion on his people and on the place where he lived.
16 But they made fun of God's prophets and hated God's messages. They refused to listen to the prophets until, finally, the Lord became so angry with his people that he could not be stopped.
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But they ridiculed God's messengers, treating his words with contempt and scoffing at his prophets, until the anger of ADONAI rose up against his people to the extent that there was no longer any remedy.
17 So God brought the king of Babylon to attack them. The king killed the young men even when they were in the Temple. He had no mercy on the young men or women, the old men or those who were sick. God handed all of them over to Nebuchadnezzar.
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Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Kasdim, who put their young men to the sword in the house of their sanctuary. They had no compassion on either young men or young women, old men or gray-haired; God handed all of them over to him.
18 Nebuchadnezzar carried away to Babylon all the things from the Temple of God, both large and small, and all the treasures from the Temple of the Lord and from the king and his officers.
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All the articles in the house of God, great and small; the supplies in the house of ADONAI; and the supplies of the king and his leading men - all these he brought to Bavel.
19 Nebuchadnezzar and his army set fire to God's Temple and broke down Jerusalem's wall and burned all the palaces. They took or destroyed every valuable thing in Jerusalem.
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Then they burned down the house of God, broke down the wall of Yerushalayim, put to flames all its palaces and destroyed everything in it of worth.
20 Nebuchadnezzar took captive to Babylon the people who were left alive, and he forced them to be slaves for him and his descendants. They remained there as slaves until the Persian kingdom defeated Babylon.
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Those who had escaped the sword he carried off to Bavel, and they became slaves to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia.
21 And so what the Lord had told Israel through the prophet Jeremiah happened: The country was an empty wasteland for seventy years to make up for the years of Sabbath restn that the people had not kept.
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Thus was fulfilled the word of ADONAI spoken by Yirmeyahu, "until the land has been paid her Shabbats"-for as long as it lay desolate, it kept Shabbat, until seventy years had passed.
22 In the first year Cyrus was king of Persia, the Lord had Cyrus send an announcement to his whole kingdom. This happened so the Lord's message spoken by Jeremiah would come true. He wrote:
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Now in the first year of Koresh king of Persia, so that the word of ADONAI spoken by Yirmeyahu might be fulfilled, ADONAI activated the spirit of Koresh king of Persia to proclaim throughout his entire kingdom, and put in writing as well:
23 This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has appointed me to build a Temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Now may the Lord your God be with all of you who are his people. You are free to go to Jerusalem.
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"Here is what Koresh king of Persia says: ADONAI, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms on earth, and he has charged me to build him a house in Yerushalayim, in Y'hudah. Whoever there is among you of all his people, may ADONAI his God be with him! He may go up . . . ."
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.