King Nebuchadnezzar attacks Judah

24 While Jehoiakim was king, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked Judah. Jehoiakim was under Nebuchadnezzar's authority for three years. But then Jehoiakim turned against Nebuchadnezzar. ² The Lord sent groups of soldiers to attack towns in Judah. The soldiers came from Babylon, Syria, Moab and Ammon. The Lord sent them to destroy Judah. He had already sent his servants, the prophets, to warn the people of Judah about this. ³ The Lord had said that these things must happen. He had decided to send Judah away from himself because of the sins that King Manasseh had done. ⁴ Manasseh had murdered people who had not done anything wrong. Their blood was in the streets of Jerusalem. The Lord would not agree to forgive Manasseh for his sins.

⁵ The other things that happened while Jehoiakim was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Judah's kings’. It tells about the things that Jehoiakim did. ⁶ Jehoiakim died and they buried him beside his ancestors. His son Jehoiachin became king after him.

⁷ The king of Egypt did not take his army out of his own country again. That was because the king of Babylon had taken a lot of Egypt's land for himself. He had taken all the land between the Stream of Egypt and the River Euphrates. Before that, the king of Egypt had authority over that land.

⁸ Jehoiachin was 18 years old when he became king. He ruled as king in Jerusalem for three months. His mother's name was Nehushta. She was the daughter of Elnathan, who came from Jerusalem. ⁹ Jehoiachin did things that the Lord said were evil, as his father had done.

¹⁰ King Nebuchadnezzar's officers took their army to attack Jerusalem. They made their camp all around the city. ¹¹ Then King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came up to Jerusalem himself while his officers were there.

¹² Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, went out of the city to put himself under King Nebuchadnezzar's authority. He went with his mother, his servants, his leaders and his palace officers. In the eighth year that King Nebuchadnezzar ruled as king, he made Jehoiachin his prisoner.

¹³ King Nebuchadnezzar took all the valuable things from the Lord's temple and from the king's palace. He cut away all the gold things that King Solomon had made for the Lord's temple. The Lord had already warned that this would happen. ¹⁴ Nebuchadnezzar took away as his prisoners all the people who lived in Jerusalem. There were 10,000 people. They included all the officers and all the soldiers. He also took away the people who had special skills to work with wood and metal. The only people who remained in Judah were the very poor people.

¹⁵ Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin away from Jerusalem as his prisoner to Babylon. He also took the king's mother, his wives, his officers and the important leaders of Judah. ¹⁶ The king of Babylon also took away to Babylon all the soldiers of Judah's army. There were 7,000 soldiers. They included the best fighters. He also took 1,000 workers who had special skills to make things with wood and metal. ¹⁷ Nebuchadnezzar chose Jehoiachin's uncle, Mattaniah, to be king instead of Jehoiachin. Nebuchadnezzar changed Mattaniah's name to Zedekiah.

¹⁸ Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 11 years. His mother's name was Hamutal. She was the daughter of Jeremiah, who came from Libnah. ¹⁹ Zedekiah did things that the Lord said were evil, as Jehoiakim had done.

²⁰ All this trouble happened to Jerusalem and to Judah because the Lord was very angry with them. In the end, the Lord sent them away from himself.

This is what happened when King Zedekiah turned against the king of Babylon.