Death of Josiah
23 Sometime after Josiah's actions, Pharaoh, Egypt's king, went to start a war at Carchemish on the Euphrates. Josiah went out against him.
24
The king of Egypt sent a message to Josiah: "What do you want with me, King of Judea?
25
I haven't been sent out by the Lord God against you; rather, my war is at the Euphrates. Now the Lord is with me and urges me on. So stand aside and don't oppose the Lord."
26
Josiah, however, didn't return to his chariot but resolved to fight. He didn't pay attention to the words of the prophet Jeremiah, which came from the Lord.
27
He went to war with Pharaoh in the plain of Megiddo, and Pharaoh's commanders came against King Josiah.
28
The king said to his attendants, "Take me away from the battle, for I'm severely wounded." His attendants immediately took him away from the line of battle.
29
Josiah got into a second chariot. After he was brought back to Jerusalem, he died and was buried in his family tomb.
30
The whole land of Judea mourned for Josiah. The prophet Jeremiah also grieved for Josiah. The leading citizens, with the women, grieve over him until this day. This has become a tradition for the whole nation of Israel to observe.
31
These events have been written in the official records of the Judean kings. All of Josiah's actions—including his honor, his understanding of the Law of the Lord, all that he did previously, and these things that are now told—are described in the official records of the kings of Israel and Judea.
32
Then the leaders of the nation appointed Jeconiah, Josiah's son, who was 23 years old, as king to succeed his father.
33
He ruled in Judea and Jerusalem for three months. Then the king of Egypt removed him from his rule in Jerusalem
34
and fined the nation one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold.
35
The king of Egypt appointed his own brother Jehoiakim as king of Judea and Jerusalem.
36
Jehoiakim put the officials in prison. He seized his other brother Zarius and took him from Egypt.
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Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he began to rule over Judea and Jerusalem; he did what was evil in the Lord's presence.
38
Then Babylon's King Nebuchadnezzar went up against him, bound him with bronze chains, and took him away to Babylon.
39
Nebuchadnezzar also seized some of the Lord's holy equipment, carried it off to Babylon, and placed it in his temple.
40
But the things reported about Jehoiakim, his impurity and godlessness, have been written in the scroll about the times of the kings.
41
His son Jehoiachin ruled in his place. When he was appointed king, he was 18 years old.
42
He ruled in Jerusalem for three months and ten days, and he did evil things in the Lord's presence.
43
After a year, Nebuchadnezzar removed Jehoiachin to Babylon, along with the Lord's holy equipment.
44
He appointed Zedekiah king of Judea and Jerusalem when Zedekiah was 21 years old. He ruled for eleven years.
45
He also did evil things in the Lord's presence and paid no attention to the words Jeremiah the prophet spoke, which came from the Lord.
46
Although King Nebuchadnezzar had made him swear a solemn pledge in the Lord's name, he swore falsely and rebelled. He was stubborn and broke the laws of the Lord, the God of Israel.
47
The leaders of the people and the priests committed godless and immoral acts far beyond the impure ones of the nations. They even corrupted the Lord's temple that had been made holy in Jerusalem.
48
The God of their ancestors sent his messenger to call them back, because he was trying to spare them and his dwelling place.
49
But they mocked the messengers and made fun of the prophets on the day that the Lord spoke. Finally, God, with divine anger, brought the Chaldean kings against his chosen nation because of their godless acts.
50
The Chaldeans killed the young people around the holy temple. They spared neither man nor woman, young nor old, for God handed over all of them.
51
They seized and carried off to Babylon all the Lord's holy equipment, great and small, the treasure chests of the Lord, and the royal stores.
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They set fire to the Lord's house. They smashed the walls of Jerusalem. They burned its towers with fire.
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They utterly ruined all of its radiance. King Nebuchadnezzar led away the survivors to Babylon under guard.
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They became servants to him and to his sons until the rise of the Persian kingdom, which fulfilled the Lord's word through Jeremiah,
55
who said, "Until the land has enjoyed its sabbath rest, it will remain untouched, after its destruction, for seventy years."