2 Chronicles 36 — Judah’s final kings, exile, and Cyrus’s proclamation — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 36:17, 36:20
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Chapter 36 — Judah’s final kings, exile, and Cyrus’s proclamation
Jehoahaz and Egyptian control
Verse 36:1 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 36:1] The people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and made him king in his father’s place in Jerusalem.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 36:1] The people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah, anointed him, and installed him as king in his father’s place in Jerusalem.
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: The Greek explicitly adds anointing before installation; the Hebrew does not mention anointing here.
Verse 36:2 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 36:2] Joahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 36:2] Joahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem,
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: Both preserve twenty-three years of age and a three-month reign; the shorter name form Joahaz appears in this notice.
Verse 36:2a Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[No corresponding unit in the selected Hebrew main text.]
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 36:2a] and his mother’s name was Amital, daughter of Jeremiah from Lobena.
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: The Greek adds the maternal genealogy and place-name as a separate numbered unit; none is supplied to the Hebrew column.
Verse 36:2b Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[No corresponding unit in the selected Hebrew main text.]
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 36:2b] He did what was evil before the Lord, according to everything his fathers had done.
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: The Greek adds this evaluation of Joahaz’s reign, absent from the Hebrew chapter.
Verse 36:2c Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[No corresponding unit in the selected Hebrew main text.]
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 36:2c] Pharaoh Neco bound him at Deblatha in the land of Emath so that he would not reign in Jerusalem,
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: The Greek adds the binding, its location, and its purpose. Deblatha is retained from the displayed Greek rather than replaced by a place-name from a parallel account.
Verse 36:3 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 36:3] The king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and imposed a levy on the land of one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 36:3] and the king transported him to Egypt and imposed tribute on the land of one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: The Hebrew records deposition in Jerusalem; the Greek records transport to Egypt. The hundred silver talents and one gold talent agree.
Eliakim renamed and the tribute
Verse 36:4 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 36:4] The king of Egypt made his brother Eliakim king over Judah and Jerusalem and changed his name to Jehoiakim. Neco took his brother Joahaz and brought him to Egypt.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 36:4] Pharaoh 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.
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: The Greek gives Eliakim’s father and predecessor explicitly, omits Jerusalem from the realm, and adds Joahaz’s death in Egypt. Greek Ioakim is rendered Jehoiakim, the recognizable name of the same king.
Verse 36:4a Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[No corresponding unit in the selected Hebrew main text.]
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 36:4a] They 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.
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: The whole taxation notice is additional in Greek. Its nominative each makes the collection syntax difficult: each person is grammatically an exactor here, not simply a taxpayer. The ambiguity is retained for review.
Jehoiakim and the Greek additions
Verse 36:5 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 36:5] Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the eyes of YHWH his God.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 36:5] Jehoiakim 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.
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: The Greek adds a maternal genealogy and comparison with the fathers; the Hebrew instead includes his God in the divine designation. The accession age and reign length agree.
Verse 36:5a Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[No corresponding unit in the selected Hebrew main text.]
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 36:5a] In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came into the land, and he served him for three years and then revolted against him.
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: The Greek adds the three-year service and revolt as a separate unit before the capture notice.
Verse 36:5b Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[No corresponding unit in the selected Hebrew main text.]
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 36:5b] The 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.
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: This Greek addition includes Samaria and the displayed verb withdrew or revolted, not a supplied destruction verb. The precise attachment of the raiding-band terms and the withdrawing subject remains uncertain.
Verse 36:5c Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[No corresponding unit in the selected Hebrew main text.]
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 36:5c] Nevertheless the Lord’s anger was against Judah, to remove him from His presence because of Manasseh’s sins in everything he had done,
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: The Greek addition attributes the removal of Judah to Manasseh’s sins and continues the accusation into the following unit.
Verse 36:5d Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[No corresponding unit in the selected Hebrew main text.]
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 36:5d] and because of the innocent blood that Jehoiakim shed, filling Jerusalem with innocent blood; yet the Lord did not wish to destroy them.
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: The Greek explicitly attributes this bloodshed to Jehoiakim and says that the Lord did not wish to destroy them. Neither the named king nor the final negative statement is altered to match another biblical account.
Captivity and the royal record
Verse 36:6 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 36:6] Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him and bound him with bronze fetters to take him to Babylon.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 36:6] Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him, bound him with bronze fetters, and took him away to Babylon.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: The Hebrew gives transportation as the purpose of binding; the Greek explicitly narrates the transportation as completed.
Verse 36:7 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 36:7] Nebuchadnezzar brought some of the vessels of YHWH’s house to Babylon and put them in his palace in Babylon.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 36:7] He carried away part of the vessels of the Lord’s house to Babylon and put them in his temple in Babylon.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: The Hebrew names Nebuchadnezzar and uses hekal, which can denote palace or temple; palace is used provisionally. The Greek leaves the agent implicit and explicitly names a temple with naos.
Verse 36:8 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 36:8] The rest of Jehoiakim’s deeds, the abominations he committed, and what was found against him are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. His son Jehoiachin reigned in his place.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 36:8] The 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.
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: The Hebrew explicitly names abominations and findings against the king. The Greek has a general record formula, names Judah alone, and adds death and burial in Ganoza. Jechonias is the Greek successor’s name here.
Jehoiachin and the change of kings
Verse 36:9 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 36:9] Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in YHWH’s eyes.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 36:9] Jechonias 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.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: The Hebrew gives eight years of age; the Greek eighteen. Both give three months and ten days of reign. The Hebrew age has not been harmonized.
Verse 36:10 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 36:10] At the turn of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon with the precious vessels of YHWH’s house. He made his brother Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 36:10] At 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.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: The Hebrew calls Zedekiah his brother; the Greek explicitly calls him his father’s brother. The kinship difference remains visible.
Zedekiah’s refusal
Verse 36:11 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 36:11] Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 36:11] Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.
Classification & Notes
Same
Text: The accession age and eleven-year reign agree.
Verse 36:12 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 36:12] He did what was evil in the eyes of YHWH his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, speaking from YHWH’s mouth.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 36:12] He 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,
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: The Hebrew has humbling and attaches from YHWH’s mouth to the prophetic address. The Greek has shame, adds and before the mouth phrase, and continues the construction into the following verse.
Verse 36:13 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 36:13] He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against returning to YHWH, the God of Israel.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 36:13] in 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.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: The Hebrew gives a new statement of rebellion; the Greek links breach of obligations to the preceding construction. Both make the oath by God explicit and retain the refusal to return.
Verse 36:14 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 36:14] All the chief priests and the people also multiplied acts of unfaithfulness, following all the abominations of the nations. They defiled YHWH’s house, which He had consecrated in Jerusalem.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 36:14] All 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.
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Text: The Greek distinguishes Judah’s eminent men from the priests, where the Hebrew has chiefs of the priests. It omits the explicit statement that God had consecrated the house.
The rejected messengers and the exile
Verse 36:15 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 36:15] YHWH, the God of their fathers, sent to them through His messengers, rising early and sending, because He had compassion on His people and His dwelling.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 36:15] The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent through prophets, rising early and sending His messengers, because He spared His people and His sanctuary.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: The Greek explicitly identifies prophets as the mediators and calls the dwelling a sanctuary. Both retain repeated early sending and divine concern.
Verse 36:16 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 36:16] They kept mocking God’s messengers, despising His words, and scoffing at His prophets, until YHWH’s wrath rose against His people, until there was no remedy.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 36:16] They 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.
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: The threefold rejection and the final lack of remedy correspond. The Hebrew explicitly calls the messengers God’s; the Greek uses His from the preceding verse.
Verse 36:17 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 36:17] He brought against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in their sanctuary house and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or aged man. He gave them all into his hand.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 36:17] He 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.
Classification & Notes
Disparate
Text: The Greek names Zedekiah where the Hebrew has the young man, shifts to plural attackers, and describes elders being carried away rather than included in the unspared groups. The Hebrew has their sanctuary and his hand; the Greek has his sanctuary and their hands. The antecedent of the Greek sanctuary pronoun is not made certain by capitalization.
Verse 36:18 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 36:18] All the vessels of God’s house, great and small, the treasures of YHWH’s house, and the treasures of the king and his officials—he brought everything to Babylon.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 36:18] All 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.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: The Hebrew explicitly identifies the first treasures as belonging to YHWH’s house; the Greek leaves that set undesignated and adds all to the royal treasures.
Verse 36:19 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 36:19] They burned God’s house, tore down Jerusalem’s wall, burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all its precious articles.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 36:19] He burned the Lord’s house, demolished Jerusalem’s wall, and burned its citadels with fire, consigning every beautiful article to destruction.
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: The Hebrew has plural destroyers and God’s house; the Greek has a singular destroyer and the Lord’s house. Palaces correspond to fortified residences or citadels in Greek.
Verse 36:20 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 36:20] He exiled those who survived the sword to Babylon, and they became servants to him and his sons until the kingdom of Persia began to reign,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 36:20] He deported the survivors to Babylon, and they became slaves to him and his sons until the kingdom of the Medes,
Classification & Notes
Disparate
Text: The Hebrew explicitly identifies survivors of the sword and ends the servitude with Persia’s reign. The Greek gives the kingdom of the Medes, a materially different dynastic endpoint.
Verse 36:21 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 36:21] to fulfill YHWH’s word through Jeremiah’s mouth, until the land had made good its Sabbaths. All the days it lay desolate it rested, to fulfill seventy years.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 36:21] to 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.
Classification & Notes
Similar
Text: Both connect the desolation, the land’s Sabbaths, Jeremiah, and seventy years. The Greek explicitly repeats Sabbath-keeping as an infinitive before the final sentence.
Cyrus’s proclamation
Verse 36:22 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 36:22] In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to complete YHWH’s word through Jeremiah’s mouth, YHWH stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia. He had a proclamation pass throughout his kingdom, also in writing, saying,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 36:22] In 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,
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: The Hebrew gives fulfillment as purpose and explicitly adds writing to oral proclamation. The Greek locates the action after fulfillment and describes an order for written proclamation.
Verse 36:23 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[BHS 36:23] “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: YHWH, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem in Judah. Whoever among you belongs to all His people—may YHWH his God be with him, and let him go up.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[LXX 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.”
Classification & Notes
Different
Text: The Hebrew’s final blessing expressly names YHWH; the Greek has his God and an explicit future will be. Both end with the command to go up, without adding the fuller decree from another book.
Biblical connection — Narrative continuation: Ezra 1:1-3. Ezra opens with Cyrus's proclamation, continuing the return-and-restoration story at the close of Chronicles.