Various kings rule in Judah—Nebuchadnezzar overruns Judah and makes Zedekiah king—Zedekiah rebels, the people reject the prophets, and Chaldees burn the temple and destroy Jerusalem—Cyrus of Persia decrees the building of the temple.

 THEN the people of the land took ^aJehoahaz^• the son of Josiah, and made him ^bking^• in his father’s stead in Jerusalem.

 Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.

 And the king of Egypt ^aput^• him down at Jerusalem, and ^bcondemned^• the land in an hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

 And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and turned his name to Jehoiakim. And Necho took Jehoahaz his brother, and carried him to ^aEgypt^•.

 ¶ ^aJehoiakim^• was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God.

 Against him came up ^aNebuchadnezzar^• king of Babylon, and bound him in ^bfetters^•, to carry him to Babylon.

 Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the ^avessels^• of the house of the LORD to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon.

 Now the rest of the acts of ^aJehoiakim^•, and his abominations which he did, and that which was found in him, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah: and ^bJehoiachin^• his son reigned in his stead.

 ¶ Jehoiachin was ^aeight^• years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD.

 And when the year was expired, king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to ^aBabylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of the LORD, and made ^bZedekiah^• his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.

 ¶ ^aZedekiah^• was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.

 And he did that which was ^aevil^• in the sight of the LORD his God, and humbled not himself before ^bJeremiah^• the prophet speaking from the mouth of the LORD.

 And he also ^arebelled^• against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him ^bswear^• by God: but he ^cstiffened his neck, and ^dhardened his heart from turning unto the LORD God of Israel.

 ¶ Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the ^aabominations^• of the heathen; and polluted the house of the LORD which he had hallowed in Jerusalem.

 And the LORD God of their fathers ^asent^• to them by his ^bmessengers^•, rising up ^cbetimes^•, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place:

 But they ^amocked^• the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his ^bprophets^•, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy.

 Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who ^aslew^• their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand.

 And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon.

 And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of ^aJerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof.

 And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to ^aBabylon^•; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia:

 To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept ^asabbath, to fulfil ^bthreescore^• and ten years.

 ¶ Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,

 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an ^ahouse^• in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? The LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.