Read the Bible

¹ Then the people of the lande tooke Iehoahaz the sonne of Iosiah, and made him king in his fathers steade in Ierusalem.² Iehoahaz was three and twentie yeere old when he began to reigne, and he reigned three moneths in Ierusalem.³ And the King of Egypt tooke him away at Ierusalem, and condemned the lande in an hundreth talents of siluer, and a talent of gold.⁴ And the King of Egypt made Eliakim his brother King ouer Iudah and Ierusalem, and turned his name to Iehoiakim: and Necho tooke Iehoahaz his brother, and caryed him to Egypt.⁵ Iehoiakim was fiue and twentie yeere old, when he began to reigne, and he reigned eleuen yeere in Ierusalem, and did euill in the sight of the Lord his God.⁶ Against him came vp Nebuchadnezzar King of Babel, and bounde him with chaines to cary him to Babel.⁷ Nebuchadnezzar also caryed of the vessels of the house of the Lorde to Babel, and put them in his Temple at Babel.⁸ Concerning the rest of the actes of Iehoiakim, and his abominations which he did, and that which was founde vpon him, behold, they are written in the booke of the Kings of Israel and Iudah, and Iehoiachin his sonne reigned in his stead.⁹ Iehoiachin was eight yeere olde when he beganne to reigne, and he reigned three moneths and ten dayes in Ierusalem, and did euill in the sight of the Lorde.¹⁰ And when the yeere was out, King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babel with the precious vessels of the house of the Lorde, and he made Zedekiah his brother King ouer Iudah and Ierusalem.

¹¹ Zedekiah was one and twentie yeere olde, when he beganne to reigne, and reigned eleuen yeere in Ierusalem.¹² And he did euill in the sight of the Lord his God, and humbled not himselfe before Ieremiah the Prophet at the commandement of the Lorde,¹³ But he rebelled moreouer against Nebuchadnezzar, which had caused him to sweare by God: and he hardened his necke and made his heart obstinate that he might not returne to the Lorde God of Israel.¹⁴ All the chiefe of the Priestes also and of the people trespassed wonderfully, according to all the abominations of the heathen, and polluted the house of the Lorde which he had sanctified in Ierusalem.¹⁵ Therefore the Lorde God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising earely and sending: for he had compassion on his people, and on his habitation.¹⁶ But they mocked the messengers of God and despised his wordes, and misused his Prophets, vntill the wrath of the Lorde arose against his people, and till there was no remedie.¹⁷ For he brought vpon them the King of the Caldeans, who slewe their yong men with the sworde in the house of their Sanctuarie, and spared neither yong man, nor virgin, ancient, nor aged. God gaue all into his hande,¹⁸ And all the vessels of the house of God great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lorde, and the treasures of the King, and of his princes: all these caryed he to Babel.¹⁹ And they burnt the house of God, and brake downe the wall of Ierusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and all the precious vessels thereof, to destroy all.²⁰ And they that were left by the sworde, caryed he away to Babel, and they were seruants to him and to his sonnes, vntill the kingdome of the Persians had rule,²¹ To fulfill the worde of the Lorde by the mouth of Ieremiah, vntill the lande had her fill of her Sabbaths: for all the dayes that she lay desolate, she kept Sabbath, to fulfill seuentie yeeres.

²² But in the first yeere of Cyrus King of Persia (when the worde of the Lorde, spoken by the mouth of Ieremiah, was finished) the Lord stirred vp the spirit of Cyrus King of Persia, and he made a proclamation through all his kingdome, and also by writing, saying,²³ Thus saith Cyrus King of Persia, All the kingdomes of the earth hath the Lorde God of heauen giuen me, and hath commanded me to build him an house in Ierusalem, that is in Iudah. Who is among you of all his people, with whom the Lorde his God is? let him goe vp.