2 Chronicles 36

1 Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father’s stead in Jerusalem.

Then the people of Judah chose Josiah’s son Jehoahaz and appointed him as the king in Jerusalem.

2 Jehoahaz [was] twenty and three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.

Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he became the king, but he ruled from Jerusalem for [only] three months.

3 And the king of Egypt put him down at Jerusalem, and condemned the land in an hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

King Neco of Egypt [captured him and] prevented him from ruling any longer. He also forced the people of Judah to pay him a tax of almost four tons of silver and about 75 pounds of gold.

4 And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and turned his name to Jehoiakim. And Necho took Jehoahaz his brother, and carried him to Egypt.

The king of Egypt appointed Jehoahaz’s [younger] brother Eliakim to be the king of Judah. He changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. After Neco captured Jehoahaz, he took him to Egypt.

5 Jehoiakim [was] twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did [that which was] evil in the sight of the LORD his God.

Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he became the king [of Judah], and he ruled from Jerusalem for 11 years. He did things that Yahweh his God considers to be evil.

6 Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon.

Then the army of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked Jehoiakim’s army. They [captured Jehoiakim and] bound him with bronze chains and took him to Babylon.

7 Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of the LORD to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon.

Nebuchadnezzar’s soldiers also took valuable things from the temple; they took them to Babylon and put them in king [Nebuchadnezzar’s] palace there.

8 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and his abominations which he did, and that which was found in him, behold, they [are] written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.

A record of the other things that happened while Jehoiakim was ruling, the detestable things that he did, including the evil things that people said that he did, is written in the scroll called ‘The History of the Kings of Israel and Judah’. After [he was taken to Babylon], his son Jehoiachin became the king [of Judah].

9 Jehoiachin [was] eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did [that which was] evil in the sight of the LORD.

Jehoiachin was 18 years old when he became the king [of Judah], and he ruled from Jerusalem for [only] three months and ten days. He did things that Yahweh considers to be evil.

10 And when the year was expired, king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of the LORD, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.

During the spring of the next year, King Nebuchadnezzar sent [soldiers] to bring him to Babylon. They also took to Babylon many valuable things from the temple of Yahweh. Then Nebuchadnezzar appointed Jehoiachin’s uncle, Zedekiah, to be the king of Judah.

11 Zedekiah [was] one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.

Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became the king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for 11 years.

12 And he did [that which was] evil in the sight of the LORD his God, [and] humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet [speaking] from the mouth of the LORD.

He did many things that Yahweh his God considered to be evil. And he did not humble himself when the prophet Jeremiah gave him a message from Yahweh [to warn him].

13 And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from turning unto the LORD God of Israel.

He would not return to Yahweh, the God that the people of Israel [said that they worshiped]. Zedekiah also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had forced him to solemnly promise using God’s name [to be loyal to him]. Zedekiah became very stubborn.

14 Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the LORD which he had hallowed in Jerusalem.

Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and also the people [of Judah] became more wicked again, doing all the detestable things that the people of the other nations did, and causing the temple in Jerusalem that Yahweh had caused to be holy to become [an] unacceptable [place to worship him].

15 And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place:

Yahweh, the God whom the ancestors [of the people of Judah belonged to/worshiped], gave messages to his prophets many times, and the prophets told those messages to the people of Judah. Yahweh did that because he pitied his people and did not want his temple to be destroyed.

16 But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till [there was] no remedy.

But the people continually made fun of God’s messengers. They despised God’s messages. They ridiculed his prophets, until finally God became extremely angry with his people, with the result that nothing could stop him [from destroying Judah].

17 Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave [them] all into his hand.

He incited the king of Babylonia to attack [Judah with his army]. They killed the young men with their swords, even in the temple. They did not spare/pity anyone, young men or young women or old people. God enabled the army of Nebuchadnezzar to kill all of them.

18 And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all [these] he brought to Babylon.

His soldiers took to Babylon all the things that were used in God’s temple—big things and little things, all the valuable things, and the valuable things that belonged to the king and his officials.

19 And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof.

They burned the temple, and they broke down the wall surrounding Jerusalem. They burned all the palaces [in Jerusalem] and destroyed all the remaining valuable things there.

20 And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia:

Nebuchadnezzar’s soldiers took to Babylon the remaining people who had not been killed with their swords. Then those people became the king’s slaves and his son’s slaves, until the [army of the] king of Persia conquered [the army of Babylonia].

21 To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: [for] as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.

[Moses had said that every seventh year the people must not plant their fields; they must allow the soil to rest. But the people had not done that. So after the army of Babylonia destroyed Judah, ] the soil was allowed to rest. That continued for 70 years, fulfilling what Yahweh told Jeremiah and what Jeremiah had predicted/prophesied would happen.

22 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD [spoken] by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and [put it] also in writing, saying,

During the first year that Cyrus was the king of Persia, in order that what Yahweh told Jeremiah would happen would occur, Yahweh motivated Cyrus to write this and proclaim it throughout his kingdom:

23 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which [is] in Judah. Who [is there] among you of all his people? The LORD his God [be] with him, and let him go up.

“I, Cyrus, the king of Persia, declare that Yahweh, the God [who rules] in heaven, has enabled me to become the ruler of all the kingdoms of this world. And he wants me to [command that my workers] build a temple {a temple be built} for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Any of his people living among you people of Persia are allowed to go to Jerusalem. And I will pray that Yahweh will be with them.”