36The people of Judah chose Josiah's son Joahaz and anointed him king in Jerusalem.H5971H776H3947H3059H1121H2977H4427H1H33892Joahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for three months.H3099H6242H7969H8141H1121H4427H4427H7969H2320H33893King Neco of Egypt took him prisoner and made Judah pay 7,500 pounds of silver and 75 pounds of gold as tribute.H4428H4714H5493H3389H6064H776H3967H3603H3701H3603H20914Neco made Joahaz' brother Eliakim king of Judah and changed his name to Jehoiakim. Joahaz was taken to Egypt by Neco.H4428H4714H471H251H4427H3063H3389H5437H8034H3079H5224H3947H3099H251H935H47145Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. He sinned against the LORD his God.H3079H6242H2568H8141H1121H4427H4427H259H6240H8141H3389H6213H7451H5869H3068H4306King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia invaded Judah, captured Jehoiakim, and took him to Babylonia in chains.H5927H5019H4428H894H631H5178H3212H8947Nebuchadnezzar carried off some of the treasures of the Temple and put them in his palace in Babylon.H5019H935H3627H1004H3068H894H5414H1964H8948Everything that Jehoiakim did, including his disgusting practices and the evil he committed, is recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel and Judah. His son Jehoiachin succeeded him as king.H3499H1697H3079H8441H6213H4672H3789H5612H4428H3478H3063H3078H1121H44279Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for three months and ten days. He too sinned against the LORD.H3078H8083H8141H1121H4427H4427H7969H2320H6235H3117H3389H6213H7451H5869H306810When spring came, King Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin to Babylonia as a prisoner and carried off the treasures of the Temple. Then Nebuchadnezzar made Jehoiachin's uncle Zedekiah king of Judah and Jerusalem.H8141H8666H4428H5019H7971H935H894H2532H3627H1004H3068H6667H251H4427H3063H338911Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years.H6667H259H6242H8141H1121H4427H4427H259H6240H8141H338912He sinned against the LORD and did not listen humbly to the prophet Jeremiah, who spoke the word of the LORD.H6213H7451H5869H3068H430H3665H6440H3414H5030H6310H306813Zedekiah rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had forced him to swear in God's name that he would be loyal. He stubbornly refused to repent and return to the LORD, the God of Israel.H4775H4428H5019H7650H430H7185H6203H553H3824H7725H3068H430H347814In addition, the leaders of Judah, the priests, and the people followed the sinful example of the nations around them in worshiping idols, and so they defiled the Temple, which the LORD himself had made holy.H8269H3548H5971H4603H4604H7235H8441H1471H2930H1004H3068H6942H338915The LORD, the God of their ancestors, had continued to send prophets to warn his people, because he wanted to spare them and the Temple.H3068H430H1H7971H3027H4397H7925H7971H2550H5971H458316But they made fun of God's messengers, ignoring his words and laughing at his prophets, until at last the LORD's anger against his people was so great that there was no escape.H3931H4397H430H959H1697H8591H5030H2534H3068H5927H5971H483217So the LORD brought the king of Babylonia to attack them. The king killed the young men of Judah even in the Temple. He had no mercy on anyone, young or old, man or woman, sick or healthy. God handed them all over to him.H5927H4428H3778H2026H970H2719H1004H4720H2550H970H1330H2205H3486H5414H302718The king of Babylonia looted the Temple, the Temple treasury, and the wealth of the king and his officials, and took everything back to Babylon.H3627H1004H430H1419H6996H214H1004H3068H214H4428H8269H935H89419He burned down the Temple and the city, with all its palaces and its wealth, and broke down the city wall.H8313H1004H430H5422H2346H3389H8313H759H784H7843H4261H362720He took all the survivors to Babylonia, where they served him and his descendants as slaves until the rise of the Persian Empire.H7611H2719H1540H894H5650H1121H4427H4438H653921And so what the LORD had foretold through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: "The land will lie desolate for seventy years, to make up for the Sabbath rest that has not been observed."H4390H1697H3068H6310H3414H776H7521H7676H3117H8074H7673H4390H7657H814122In the first year that Cyrus of Persia was emperor, the LORD made what he had said through the prophet Jeremiah come true. He prompted Cyrus to issue the following command and send it out in writing to be read aloud everywhere in his empire:H259H8141H3566H4428H6539H1697H3068H6310H3414H3615H3068H5782H7307H3566H4428H6539H5674H6963H4438H4385H55923"This is the command of Cyrus, Emperor of Persia. The LORD, the God of Heaven, has made me ruler over the whole world and has given me the responsibility of building a temple for him in Jerusalem in Judah. Now, all of you who are God's people, go there, and may the LORD your God be with you."H559H3566H4428H6539H4467H776H3068H430H8064H5414H6485H1129H1004H3389H3063H5971H3068H430H5927
Dublin, OH
