24 1 Under Jehoiakim, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacked; Jehoiakim served him three years, then turned and rebelled against him. 2 Then our Father sent Babylonian, Aramean, Moabite, and Ammonite raiders against him; he sent them against Judah to destroy it, just as our Father had said through his servants the prophets. 3 This happened to Judah at our Father's command, to remove them from his presence for Manasseh's sins—all he had done. 4 And even the innocent blood he shed, filling Jerusalem with innocent blood — our Father would not forgive. 5 The rest of Jehoiakim's acts, all he did, aren't they written in the annals of Judah's kings?
6 So Jehoiakim rested with his ancestors, and Jehoiachin his son became king in his place.
7 Egypt's king did not leave his land again, for Babylon's king had taken all of Egypt's territory, from Egypt's Brook to the Euphrates River.
8 Jehoiachin was eighteen when he began reigning three months in Jerusalem; his mother was Nehushta, daughter of Elnathan, from Jerusalem. 9 He did what was evil in the eyes of our Father, just as his father had done.
Jerusalem Carried Into Exile
10 At that time, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon's servants marched to Jerusalem, and the city came under siege. 11 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon himself came against the city while his servants were besieging it. 12 Jehoiachin king of Judah went out to Babylon's king — he, his mother, his servants, his officials, and his attendants — and Babylon's king took him, in his reign's eighth year. 13 He carried off from there all the treasures of our Father's house and of the royal palace, and cut up all gold vessels Solomon king of Israel made for the temple, as our Father said. 14 He exiled all Jerusalem: all officials, all mighty warriors—ten thousand captives—and all craftsmen and smiths. Only the land's poorest remained. 15 He exiled Jehoiachin to Babylon with the king's mother, wives, officials, and the land's leading men, taking them from Jerusalem to Babylon. 16 The king of Babylon exiled to Babylon all seven thousand fighting men, a thousand craftsmen and smiths, all strong, fit for war. 17 The king of Babylon made Jehoiachin's uncle Mattaniah king in his place, renaming him Zedekiah.
Zedekiah Reigns in Judah
18 Zedekiah became king at twenty-one and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; his mother was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 19 He did what was evil in the eyes of our Father, just as Jehoiakim had done. 20 Because of our Father's anger, this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, until he cast them from his presence. Then Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon's king.
