1During Jehoiakim’s reign Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, attacked, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. Then Jehoiakim turned and rebelled against him. 2The Lord loosed against him bands of Chaldeans, Arameans, Moabites, and Ammonites; he unleashed them against Judah to destroy him, according to the Lord’s word spoken through his servants the prophets. 3This befell Judah because the Lord had stated that he would put them out of his sight for the sins Manasseh had committed in all that he did, 4and especially because of the innocent blood he shed; he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord would not forgive.a

5The rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, with all that he did, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah. 6Jehoiakim rested with his ancestors, and his son Jehoiachin succeeded him as king. 7The king of Egypt did not again leave his own land, for the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt from the wadi of Egypt to the Euphrates River.

Reign of Jehoiachin. 8Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Nehushta, daughter of Elnathan, from Jerusalem.

9He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, just as his father had done.

10b At that time officers of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, attacked Jerusalem, and the city came under siege. 11Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, himself arrived at the city while his officers were besieging it. 12Then Jehoiachin, king of Judah, together with his mother, his ministers, officers, and functionaries, surrendered to the king of Babylon, who, in the eighth year of his reign,* took him captive. 13He carried off all the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house, and broke up all the gold utensils that Solomon, king of Israel, had provided in the house of the Lord, as the Lord had decreed.c 14He deported all Jerusalem: all the officers and warriors of the army, ten thousand in number, and all the artisans and smiths. Only the lowliest of the people of the land* were left. 15He deported Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king’s mother, his wives, his functionaries, and the chiefs of the land he led captive from Jerusalem to Babylon.d 16All seven thousand soldiers of the army, and a thousand artisans and smiths, all of them trained warriors, these too the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon. 17In place of Jehoiachin the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king; he changed his name to Zedekiah.e

Reign of Zedekiah. 18* Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah.f

19He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, just as Jehoiakim had done. 20This befell Jerusalem and Judah because the Lord was so angry that he cast them out of his sight.

Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.