Egypt and Babylon push the last four kings around, and three of them do evil. God keeps sending prophets, and the people keep mocking them. Babylon burns the temple and breaks down the walls, and the land rests for seventy years. Then Cyrus king of Persia says, Whoever belongs to His people, go up!
1Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and made him king in Jerusalem in place of his father.
2Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. 3And the king of Egypt dethroned him in Jerusalem and imposed on Judah a levy of 7,500 pounds of silver and 75 pounds of gold.
4Then Neco king of Egypt made Eliakim brother of Jehoahaz king over Judah and Jerusalem, and he changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Eliakim’s brother Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt.
Jehoiakim Reigns in Judah// 2 Kings 23:36–37
5Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. And he did evil in the sight of Yahweh his God.
6Then Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jehoiakim and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon. 7Nebuchadnezzar also took to Babylon some of the articles from the house of Yahweh, and he put them in his temple in Babylon.
8As for the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, the abominations he committed, and all that was found against him, they are indeed written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. And his son Jehoiachin reigned in his place.
Jehoiachin Reigns in Judah// 2 Kings 24:6–9
9Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months and ten days. And he did evil in the sight of Yahweh.
2CH 36:9[TEXT]HOW OLD? The Hebrew here says 8. 2 Kings 24:8 and some Greek copies say 18, and this Bible follows them, as most Bibles do.
10In the spring, King Nebuchadnezzar summoned Jehoiachin and brought him to Babylon, along with the articles of value from the house of Yahweh. And he made Jehoiachin’s relative Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.
2CH 36:10[FIELD NOTES]A Babylonian record tells of this very attack, 597 BC, and clay tablets list food for King Jehoiachin in Babylon. See The Babylonian Chronicle and The Jehoiachin Ration Tablets in 2 Kings.
Zedekiah Reigns in Judah// 2 Kings 24:18–20; Jeremiah 52:1–3
11Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. 12And he did evil in the sight of Yahweh his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke for Yahweh.
13He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. But Zedekiah stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to Yahweh, the God of Israel.14Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people multiplied their unfaithful deeds, following all the abominations of the nations, and they defiled the house of Yahweh, which He had consecrated in Jerusalem.
2CH 36:13[HEART]Zedekiah stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against the Lord.
2CH 36:14[DEMONIC]Priests defile the temple with the nations' abominations
The Fall of Jerusalem// 2 Kings 25:1–7
15Again and again Yahweh, the God of their fathers, sent word to His people through His messengers because He had compassion on them and on His dwelling place. 16But they mocked the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of Yahweh against His people was stirred up beyond remedy.
17So He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who put their young men to the sword in the sanctuary, sparing neither young men nor young women, neither elderly nor infirm. God gave them all into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, 18who carried off everything to Babylon—all the articles of the house of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the house of Yahweh and of the king and his officials. 19Then the Chaldeans set fire to the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem. They burned down all the palaces and destroyed every article of value.
20Those who escaped the sword were carried by Nebuchadnezzar into exile in Babylon, and they became servants to him and his sons until the kingdom of Persia came to power.
2CH 36:20[FULFILLS]Judah would serve Babylon 70 years; then Babylon would be punished ← JER 25:11-12
21So the land enjoyed its Sabbath rest all the days of the desolation, until seventy years were completed, in fulfillment of the word of Yahweh spoken through Jeremiah.
2CH 36:21[FULFILLS]The land would rest and enjoy its Sabbaths while Israel was in exile ← LEV 26:34-35
2CH 36:21[NOTE]SEVENTY YEARS. See the Big Question pages Seventy Years of Rest.
The Proclamation of Cyrus// Ezra 1:1–4; Isaiah 45:1–25
22In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to fulfill the word of Yahweh spoken through Jeremiah, Yahweh stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to send a proclamation throughout his kingdom and to put it in writing as follows:
2CH 36:22[ARCHAEOLOGY]Cyrus the Great of Persia is named on the Cyrus Cylinder and in the Nabonidus Chronicle
23“This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:
‘Yahweh, the God of heaven, who has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, has appointed me to build a house for Him at Jerusalem in Judah.
Whoever among you belongs to His people, may Yahweh his God be with him, and may he go up.’”
2CH 36:23[NOTE]THE LAST WORDS. Cyrus says God appointed him. That is his own decree, so it stays black. God had named Cyrus long before, Isaiah 44:28. These words end most printed Hebrew Bibles, and Ezra 1:1 to 3 picks them up. See Why End With Cyrus?
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