May 5
     2 Kings 23:21 — 25:30
 

21 The king now commanded all the people, saying: “Hold a passover to Jehovah YOUR God according to what is written in this book of the covenant.” 22 For no passover like this had been held from the days of the judges that had judged Israel, nor all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. 23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this passover was held to Jehovah in Jerusalem.

24 And also the spirit mediums and the professional foretellers of events and the teraphim and the dungy idols and all the disgusting things that had appeared in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem Josiah cleared out, in order that he might actually carry out the words of the law that were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had found at the house of Jehovah. 25 And like him there did not prove to be a king prior to him who returned to Jehovah with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his vital force, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him has there risen up one like him.

26 Nevertheless, Jehovah did not turn back from the great burning of his anger, with which his anger burned against Judah over all the offensive things with which Manasseh had made them offend. 27 But Jehovah said: “Judah, too, I shall remove from my sight, just as I have removed Israel; and I shall certainly reject this city that I have chosen, even Jerusalem, and the house of which I have said, ‘My name will continue there.’”

28 As for the rest of the affairs of Josiah and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the affairs of the days of the kings of Judah? 29 In his days Pharaoh Nechoh the king of Egypt came up to the king of Assyria by the river Euphrates, and King Josiah proceeded to go to meet him; but he put him to death at Megiddo as soon as he saw him. 30 So his servants conveyed him dead in a chariot from Megiddo and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his grave. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father.

31 Twenty-three years old was Jehoahaz when he began to reign, and for three months he reigned in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah. 32 And he began to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes, according to all that forefathers of his had done. 33 And Pharaoh Nechoh got to put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, to keep him from reigning in Jerusalem, and then imposed a fine upon the land of a hundred silver talents and a gold talent. 34 Furthermore, Pharaoh Nechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in place of Josiah his father and changed his name to Jehoiakim; and Jehoahaz he took and then brought to Egypt, where he eventually died. 35 And the silver and the gold Jehoiakim gave to Pharaoh. Only he taxed the land, to give the silver at the order of Pharaoh. According to each one’s individual tax rate he exacted the silver and the gold from the people of the land, to give it to Pharaoh Nechoh.

36 Twenty-five years old was Jehoiakim when he began to reign, and for eleven years he reigned in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah from Rumah. 37 And he continued to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes, according to all that forefathers of his had done.

24 In his days Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came up, and so Jehoiakim became his servant for three years. However, he turned back and rebelled against him. 2 And Jehovah began to send against him marauder bands of Chaldeans and marauder bands of Syrians and marauder bands of Moabites and marauder bands of the sons of Ammon, and he kept sending them against Judah to destroy it, according to Jehovah’s word that he had spoken by means of his servants the prophets. 3 It was only by the order of Jehovah that it took place against Judah, to remove it from his sight for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done; 4 and also [for] the innocent blood that he had shed, so that he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and Jehovah did not consent to grant forgiveness.

5 As for the rest of the affairs of Jehoiakim and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the affairs of the days of the kings of Judah? 6 Finally Jehoiakim lay down with his forefathers, and Jehoiachin his son began to reign in place of him.

7 And never again did the king of Egypt come out from his land, for the king of Babylon had taken all that happened to belong to the king of Egypt from the torrent valley of Egypt up to the river Euphrates.

8 Eighteen years old was Jehoiachin when he began to reign, and for three months he reigned in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. 9 And he continued to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes, according to all that his father had done. 10 During that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, so that the city came under siege. 11 And Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon proceeded to come against the city, while his servants were laying siege against it.

12 At length Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he with his mother and his servants and his princes and his court officials; and the king of Babylon got to take him in the eighth year of his being king. 13 Then he brought out from there all the treasures of the house of Jehovah and the treasures of the king’s house, and went on to cut to pieces all the gold utensils that Solomon the king of Israel had made in the temple of Jehovah, just as Jehovah had spoken. 14 And he took into exile all Jerusalem and all the princes and all the valiant, mighty men—ten thousand he was taking into exile—and also every craftsman and builder of bulwarks. No one had been left behind except the lowly class of the people of the land. 15 Thus he took Jehoiachin into exile to Babylon; and the king’s mother and the king’s wives and his court officials and the foremost men of the land he led away as exiled people from Jerusalem to Babylon. 16 As for all the valiant men, seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the builders of bulwarks, a thousand, all the mighty men carrying on war, the king of Babylon proceeded to bring them as exiled people to Babylon. 17 Further, the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his uncle king in place of him. Then he changed his name to Zedekiah.

18 Twenty-one years old was Zedekiah when he began to reign, and for eleven years he reigned in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah. 19 And he continued to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. 20 For on account of the anger of Jehovah it took place in Jerusalem and in Judah, until he had cast them out of his sight. And Zedekiah began to rebel against the king of Babylon.

25 And it came about in the ninth year of his being king, in the tenth month on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came, yes, he and all his military force, against Jerusalem and began camping against it and building against it a siege wall all around. 2 And the city came to be under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 3 On the ninth day of the [fourth] month the famine was severe in the city, and there proved to be no bread for the people of the land. 4 And the city got to be breached, and all the men of war [fled] by night by the way of the gate between the double wall that is by the king’s garden, while the Chaldeans were all around against the city; and [the king] began to go in the direction of the Arabah. 5 And a military force of Chaldeans went chasing after the king, and they got to overtake him in the desert plains of Jericho; and all his own military force was scattered from his side. 6 Then they seized the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, that they might pronounce a judicial decision upon him. 7 And Zedekiah’s sons they slaughtered before his eyes, and Zedekiah’s eyes he blinded, after which he bound him with copper fetters and brought him to Babylon.

8 And in the fifth month on the seventh [day] of the month, that is to say, the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the chief of the bodyguard, the servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9 And he proceeded to burn the house of Jehovah and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; and the house of every great man he burned with fire. 10 And the walls of Jerusalem, all around, the entire military force of Chaldeans that were with the chief of the bodyguard pulled down. 11 And the rest of the people that were left behind in the city and the deserters that had gone over to the king of Babylon and the rest of the crowd Nebuzaradan the chief of the bodyguard took into exile. 12 And some of the lowly people of the land the chief of the bodyguard let remain as vinedressers and compulsory laborers. 13 And the pillars of copper that were in the house of Jehovah, and the carriages and the copper sea that were in the house of Jehovah, the Chaldeans broke in pieces and went carrying the copper of them to Babylon. 14 And the cans and the shovels and the extinguishers and the cups and all the utensils of copper with which they used to minister they took. 15 And the chief of the bodyguard took the fire holders and the bowls that were of genuine gold and those that were of genuine silver. 16 As for the two pillars, the one sea and the carriages that Solomon had made for the house of Jehovah, there happened to be no way to tell the weight of the copper of all these utensils. 17 Eighteen cubits was the height of each pillar, and the capital upon it was of copper; and the height of the capital was three cubits; and the network and the pomegranates all around upon the capital, the whole of it, was copper; and the second pillar had the same as these upon the network.

18 Furthermore, the chief of the bodyguard took Seraiah the chief priest and Zephaniah the second priest and three doorkeepers; 19 and from the city he took one court official that had a command over the men of war, and five men from those having access to the king that were found in the city; and the secretary of the chief of the army, the one mustering the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land that were to be found in the city; 20 and Nebuzaradan the chief of the bodyguard then took them and conducted them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 21 And the king of Babylon proceeded to strike them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah went into exile from off its soil.

22 As for the people left behind in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had left behind, he now appointed over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan. 23 When all the chiefs of the military forces, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, they immediately came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, that is, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and Johanan the son of Kareah and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men. 24 Then Gedaliah swore to them and their men and said to them: “Do not be afraid of [being] servants to the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with YOU.”

25 And it came about in the seventh month that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah the son of Elishama of the royal offspring came, and also ten men with him, and they got to strike down Gedaliah, so that he died, and also the Jews and the Chaldeans that happened to be with him in Mizpah. 26 After that all the people, from small to great, and the chiefs of the military forces rose up and came into Egypt; for they had become afraid because of the Chaldeans.

27 And it came about in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin the king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, that Evil-merodach the king of Babylon, in the year of his becoming king, raised up the head of Jehoiachin the king of Judah out of the house of detention; 28 and he began to speak good things with him, and then put his throne higher than the thrones of the kings that were with him in Babylon. 29 And he took off his prison garments; and he ate bread constantly before him all the days of his life. 30 As for his allowance, an allowance was constantly given him from the king, daily as due, all the days of his life.