2 Kings 23:36-24:7

Contemporary English Version

King Jehoiakim of Judah

(2 Chronicles 36.5-8)

³⁶^(A) Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he was appointed king, and he ruled 11 years from Jerusalem. His mother Zebidah was the daughter of Pedaiah from Rumah. ³⁷Jehoiakim disobeyed the Lord by following the example of his ancestors.

24 ^(B) During Jehoiakim's rule, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia^[a] invaded and took control of Judah. Jehoiakim obeyed Nebuchadnezzar for three years, but then he rebelled.

²At that time, the Lord started sending troops to rob and destroy towns in Judah. Some of these troops were from Babylonia, and others were from Syria, Moab, and Ammon. The Lord had sent his servants the prophets to warn Judah about this, ³and now he was making it happen. The country of Judah was going to be wiped out, because Manasseh had sinned ⁴and caused many innocent people to die. The Lord would not forgive this.

⁵Everything else Jehoiakim did while he was king is written in The History of the Kings of Judah. ⁶Jehoiakim died, and his son Jehoiachin became king.

⁷King Nebuchadnezzar defeated King Neco of Egypt and took control of his land from the Egyptian Gorge all the way north to the Euphrates River. So Neco never invaded Judah again.^[b]

Footnotes

24.1 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia: Ruled Babylonia 605–562 b.c.
24.7 again: Nebuchadnezzar defeated the Egyptian army in 605 b.c. at the town of Carchemish. But a few years later, he was forced to retreat all the way back to Babylonia, which allowed Jehoiakim to rebel (see verse 1).