1 Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father's stead in Jerusalem.
2 Joahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.
3 And the king of Egypt deposed him at Jerusalem, and fined the land a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
4 And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Neco took Joahaz his brother, and carried him to Egypt.
5 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And he did that which was evil in the sight of LORD his God.
6 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him, and bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon.
7 Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of LORD to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon.
8 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and his abominations which he did, and that which was found in him, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.
9 Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. And he did that which was evil in the sight of LORD.
10 And at the return of the year king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the good vessels of the house of LORD, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.
11 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.
12 And he did that which was evil in the sight of LORD his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet [speaking] from the mouth of LORD.
13 And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. But he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart against turning to LORD, the God of Israel.
14 Moreover all the chiefs of the priests, and the people, trespassed very greatly after all the abominations of the nations. And they polluted the house of LORD which he had hallowed in Jerusalem.
15 And LORD, the God of their fathers, sent to them by his messengers, rising up early and sending, because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling-place.
16 But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the wrath of LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy.
17 Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or virgin, old man or hoary-headed. He gave them all into his
18 And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his rulers, all these he brought to Babylon.
19 And they burnt the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces of it with fire, and destroyed all the good vessels of it.
20 And those who had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon, and they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia,
21 to fulfill the word of LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths; as long as it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.
22 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and
23 Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth has LORD, the God of heaven, given me. And he has charged me to build a house for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all his people, LORD