2 Chronicles 36

Judah’s King Jehoahaz

1 Then  * 36:1–4 2Kg 23:30b–34 the common people  * 36:1 Lit the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and made him king in Jerusalem in place of his father.

2 Jehoahaz  * 36:2 = Joahaz, also in v. 4 was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. 3 The king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and fined the land seventy-five hundred pounds  * 36:3 Lit 100 talents of silver and seventy-five pounds  * 36:3 Lit one talent of gold.

Judah’s King Jehoiakim

4 Then King Neco of Egypt made Jehoahaz’s brother Eliakim king over Judah and Jerusalem and changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took his brother Jehoahaz and brought him to Egypt.  * 36:4 Jr 22:10–12

5 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God.  * 36:5 2Kg 23:36–37; Jr 22:13–186 Now King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked him  * 36:6 2Kg 24:1 and bound him in bronze  * 36:6 2Ch 33:11 shackles to take him to Babylon.  * 36:6 Jr 22:18–197 Also Nebuchadnezzar took some of the articles of the Lord’s temple to Babylon and put them in his temple in Babylon.  * 36:7 2Kg 24:1–4; Jr 22:13–19; 25:1–9; Dn 1:1; Hab 1:6

8 The rest of the deeds of Jehoiakim,  * 36:8 2Kg 24:5–6 the detestable actions he committed, and what was found against him, are written in the Book of Israel’s Kings. His son Jehoiachin became king in his place.

Judah’s King Jehoiachin

9 Jehoiachin was eighteen  * 36:9 Some Hb mss, LXX; 2Kg 24:8; other Hb mss read eight years old  * 36:9–10 2Kg 24:8–17 when he became king, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. 10 In the spring  * 36:10 Lit At the return of the year,* 36:10 2Sm 11:1 Nebuchadnezzar sent for him and brought him to Babylon along with the valuable articles of the Lord’s temple. Then he made Jehoiachin’s brother Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.  * 36:10 Jr 37:1

Judah’s King Zedekiah

11 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old  * 36:11–13 2Kg 24:18–20; Jr 52:1–3 when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. 12 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God and did not humble himself  * 36:12 2Ch 33:23 before the prophet Jeremiah at the Lord’s command.  * 36:12 Jr 21:3–713 He also rebelled against  * 36:13 Ezk 17:15 King Nebuchadnezzar who had made him swear allegiance by God. He became obstinate  * 36:13 Lit He stiffened his neck,* 36:13 2Ch 30:8 and hardened his heart against returning to the Lord, the God of Israel. 14 All the leaders of the priests and the people multiplied their unfaithful deeds, imitating all the detestable practices of the nations, and they defiled the Lord’s temple that he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

The Destruction of Jerusalem

15 But the Lord, the God of their ancestors sent word against them by the hand of his messengers, sending them time and time again,  * 36:15 Jr 7:13; 25:3,11–12 for he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. 16 But they kept ridiculing God’s messengers,  * 36:16 2Ch 30:10; Jr 5:12–13 despising his words,  * 36:16 Pr 1:24–32 and scoffing at his prophets, until the Lord’s wrath was so stirred up against his people that there was no remedy.  * 36:16 Ezr 5:1217 So he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans,  * 36:17 2Kg 25:1–7; Jr 52:4–11 who killed their fit young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary. He had no pity on young men or young women, elderly or aged; he handed them all over to him. 18 He took everything to Babylon — all the articles of God’s temple, large and small, the treasures of the Lord’s temple, and the treasures of the king and his officials. 19 Then the Chaldeans burned God’s temple.  * 36:19–20 2Kg 25:9–11; Jr 52:13–15 They tore down Jerusalem’s wall, burned all its palaces, and destroyed all its valuable articles.

20 He deported those who escaped from the sword to Babylon, and they became servants to him and his sons until the rise of the Persian  * 36:20 LXX reads Median kingdom.  * 36:20 Jr 27:721 This fulfilled the word of the Lord through Jeremiah,  * 36:21 Jr 25:11–12; 29:10 and the land enjoyed its Sabbath rest all the days of the desolation  * 36:21 Lv 25:4; 26:33 until seventy years were fulfilled.

The Decree of Cyrus

22 In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia,  * 36:22–23 Ezr 1:1–3 in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken through  * 36:22 Lit Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah,  * 36:22 Jr 25:11–14; 27:22; 29:10–14; 33:7–10 the Lord roused the spirit of King Cyrus  * 36:22 Is 44:28; 45:1 of Persia to issue a proclamation throughout his entire kingdom and also to put it in writing:

23 This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: The Lord, the God of the heavens, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has appointed me to build him a temple at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up, and may the Lord his God be with him.