2 Chronicles 36
The Land Kept Its Sabbaths While They Were Gone
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Joahaz King of Judah
36:1The people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah, anointed him, and installed him as king in his father’s place in Jerusalem.
36:2Joahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem,
36:2aand his mother’s name was Amital, daughter of Jeremiah from Lobena.
36:2bHe did what was evil before the Lord, according to everything his fathers had done.
36:2cPharaoh Neco bound him at Deblatha in the land of Emath so that he would not reign in Jerusalem,
36:3and the king transported him to Egypt and imposed tribute on the land of one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold.
Jehoiakim King of Judah
36:4Pharaoh Neco installed Eliakim son of Josiah as king of Judah in place of his father Josiah and changed his name to Jehoiakim. Pharaoh Neco took his brother Joahaz and brought him into Egypt, and he died there.
36:4aThey gave the silver and gold to Pharaoh. Then the land began to be taxed to provide the silver at Pharaoh’s command, and each, according to his capacity, exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land to give to Pharaoh Neco.
36:5Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zechora, daughter of Nerias from Rama. He did what was evil before the Lord, according to everything his fathers had done.
Nebuchadnezzar Comes into the Land
36:5aIn his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came into the land, and he served him for three years and then revolted against him.
36:5bThe Lord sent against them the Chaldeans, bands of Syrian raiders, bands of Moabite raiders, and the sons of Ammon and of Samaria. They withdrew after this event, according to the Lord’s word through His servants the prophets.
36:5cNevertheless the Lord’s anger was against Judah, to remove him from His presence because of Manasseh’s sins in everything he had done,
36:5dand because of the innocent blood that Jehoiakim shed, filling Jerusalem with innocent blood; yet the Lord did not wish to destroy them.
Jehoiakim Bound and the Vessels Carried Off
36:6Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him, bound him with bronze fetters, and took him away to Babylon.
36:7He carried away part of the vessels of the Lord’s house to Babylon and put them in his temple in Babylon.
36:8The rest of Jehoiakim’s deeds and everything he did—are these not written in the book of the accounts of the days for the kings of Judah? Jehoiakim lay down with his fathers and was buried in Ganoza with his fathers, and his son Jechonias reigned in his place.
Jechonias King of Judah
36:9Jechonias was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did what was evil before the Lord.
36:10At the turn of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him into Babylon with the desirable vessels of the Lord’s house. He made Zedekiah, his father’s brother, king over Judah and Jerusalem.
Zedekiah King of Judah
36:11Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.
36:12He did what was evil before the Lord his God. He felt no shame before Jeremiah the prophet, and at what came from the Lord’s mouth,
36:13in breaking his obligations to King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. He hardened his neck and strengthened his heart so as not to return to the Lord God of Israel.
36:14All the distinguished men of Judah, the priests, and the people of the land multiplied breaches of faith in the nations’ abominations and defiled the Lord’s house in Jerusalem.
The Messengers Mocked
36:15The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent through prophets, rising early and sending His messengers, because He spared His people and His sanctuary.
36:16They kept sneering at His messengers, treating His words as nothing, and mocking His prophets, until the Lord’s anger rose among His people, until there was no healing.
The Burning of the House and the Deportation
36:17He brought against them a king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of his sanctuary and did not spare Zedekiah. They had no mercy on their virgins and carried away their elders. He handed everything into their hands.
36:18All the vessels of God’s house, great and small, the treasures, and all the treasures of the king and the magnates—he brought everything into Babylon.
36:19He burned the Lord’s house, demolished Jerusalem’s wall, and burned its citadels with fire, consigning every beautiful article to destruction.
36:20He deported the survivors to Babylon, and they became slaves to him and his sons until the kingdom of the Medes,
36:21to fulfill the Lord’s word through Jeremiah’s mouth, until the land accepted its Sabbaths, to keep Sabbath. All the days of its desolation it kept Sabbath, to complete seventy years.
The Proclamation of Cyrus
36:22In the first year of Cyrus king of the Persians, after the Lord’s word through Jeremiah’s mouth had been fulfilled, the Lord stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of the Persians. He ordered a proclamation throughout his kingdom in writing, saying,
36:23“Thus says Cyrus king of the Persians: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has commanded me to build Him a house in Jerusalem in Judea. Who among you is from all His people? His God will be with him, and let him go up.”
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.