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¹ And the people of the lande toke Iehoahaz the sonne of Iosia, and made hym king in his fathers steade in Hierusalem.² And Iehoahaz was twentie & three yeres olde when he began to raigne, and he raigned three monethes in Hierusalem.³ And the king of Egypt put him downe at Hierusalem, and merced the lande in an hundreth talentes of siluer, and a talent of golde.⁴ And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king vpon Iuda and Hierusalem, and turned his name to Iehoiacim: and Necho toke Iehoahaz his brother, and caried him to Egypt.⁵ Iehoiacim was twentie and fiue yeres old when he began to raigne, & he raigned aleuen yeres in Hierusalem, and he did euil in the sight of the Lord his God.⁶ Against him came vp Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and bounde hym with two chaynes, to cary him to Babylon.⁷ The king Nabuchodonosor also caried of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon.⁸ The rest of the actes of Iehoiacim, and his abhominations which he did, and that which was found vpon him, behold they are written in the booke of the kinges of Israel and Iuda: and Iehoiacin his sonne raigned in his steade.⁹ And Iehoiacin was eyght yeres olde when he began to raigne, and he raigned three monethes and ten dayes in Hierusalem, and dyd euyll in the sight of the Lorde.¹⁰ And when the yere was out, king Nabuchodonosor sent and fet him to Babylon with the goodly vessels of the house of the Lorde, and made Zedekia his fathers brother king ouer Iuda and Hierusalem.

¹¹ Zedekia was one and twentie yeres old when he began the raigne, and raigned aleuen yeres in Hierusalem.¹² And he dyd euyl in the sight of the Lord his God, and humbled not him selfe before Ieremia the prophete, at the mouth of the Lorde.¹³ And he rebelled against king Nabuchodonosor, which had receaued an oth of him by God: but he was stifnecked, and to hard hearted to turne vnto the Lord God of Israel.¹⁴ Moreouer, all the chiefe of the priestes and the people trespassed wonderfully after all maner of abominations of the heathen, and polluted the house of the Lorde which he had halowed in Hierusalem.¹⁵ And the Lorde God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising vp betimes, and sending: for he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place.¹⁶ But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his wordes, and misvsed his prophetes, vntill the wrath of the Lorde arose against his people, and till there was no remedie.¹⁷ And so he brought vpon them the king of Chaldee, which slue their young men with the sword in their holy temple, and spared neither young man, mayden, old man, nor him that stowped for age: He gaue them all into his hande.¹⁸ And all the vessels of the house of God, both great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lorde, and the treasures of the king, and of his lordes: all these caryed he to Babylon.¹⁹ And they burnt the house of God, and brake downe the wal of Hierusalem, and burnt all the pallaices thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly iewels therof.²⁰ And the rest that had escaped the sword, caried he to Babylon: where they were bondmen to him & his children, vntill the time that Persia had the Empire:²¹ To fulfill the worde of the Lord by the mouth of Ieremia, vntill the lande had her pleasure of her Sabbathes: for as long as she lay desolate, she kept Sabbath, vntil threescore and ten yeres were fulfilled.

²² And the first yere of Cyrus king of Persia (when the worde of the Lorde spoken by the mouth of Ieremia was finished) the Lorde stirred vp the spirite of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdome, and that by wryting, saying:²³ Thus sayth Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdomes of the earth hath the Lorde God of heauen geuen me, & hath charged me to buylde hym an house in Hierusalem, that is in Iuda: Wherfore whosoeuer is among you of all his people, the Lorde his God be with him, and let hym go vp.