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¹ And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and made him king instead of his father in Jerusalem.² Jehoahaz was a son of twenty three years when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.³ And the king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem, and fined the land a hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.⁴ And the king of Egypt made his brother Eliakim king over Judah and Jerusalem, and turned about his name to Jehoiakim; and Necho took his brother Jehoahaz and brought him to Egypt.⁵ Jehoiakim was a son of twenty five years when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And he did the evil in the eyes of Jehovah his God.⁶ Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came up against him, and bound him in bronze fetters to take him away to Babylon.⁷ And Nebuchadnezzar brought some of the vessels of the house of Jehovah to Babylon, and put them in his temple in Babylon.⁸ And the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and his evil deeds that he did, and that which was found against him, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. And his son Jehoiachin reigned in his place.⁹ Jehoiachin was a son of eight years when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months and ten days; and he did the evil in the eyes of Jehovah.¹⁰ And at the turn of the year, King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, with the valuable vessels of the house of Jehovah, and made his kinsman Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.

¹¹ Zedekiah was a son of twenty one years when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.¹² And he did the evil in the eyes of Jehovah his God; he was not humbled before Jeremiah the prophet, from the mouth of Jehovah.¹³ And also he rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God; and he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart from turning to Jehovah the God of Israel.¹⁴ Also, all the heads of the priests, and the people were continually acting unfaithfully according to all the abominable idols of the nations; and they defiled the house of Jehovah that He had sanctified in Jerusalem.¹⁵ And Jehovah, the God of their fathers, sent to them by the hand of His messengers, rising early and sending, for He had pity on his people and on His dwelling place.¹⁶ But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised His Words, and scoffed at His prophets until the wrath of Jehovah went up against His people, until there was no healing.¹⁷ And He caused the king of the Chaldeans to go up against them; and he killed their choice ones by the sword in the house of their holy place, and had no pity on the young man and the virgin, the old man and the very aged; He gave all into hishand.¹⁸ And all the vessels of the house of God, the large and the small, and the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king and his leaders, he brought all to Babylon.¹⁹ And they burned the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem; and they burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all its beautiful vessels.²⁰ And he removed to Babylon those who were left of the sword; and they were slaves to him and to his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia;²¹ in order to fulfill the Word of Jehovah in the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths; all the days of the desolation it kept the sabbath, to the full measure of seventy years.

²² And in the first year of Cyrus the king of Persia, in order to accomplish the Word of Jehovah in the mouth of Jeremiah, Jehovah awakened the spirit of Cyrus the king of Persia, and he caused a voice to pass throughout all his kingdom, andalso in writing, saying,²³ So says Cyrus the king of Persia, Jehovah the God of the heavens has given to me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has laid a charge on me to build a house in Jerusalem to Him, that is in Judah. Who is among you of all His people?May Jehovah his God be with him, and let him go up.