Chronicles II 36

1 And the people of the land took Joachaz the son of Josias, and anointed him, and made him king over Jerusalem in the room of his father.

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

2 Joachaz [was] twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Amital, daughter of Jeremias of Lobna. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. And Pharao Nechao bound him in Deblatha in the land of Aemath, that he might not reign 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 brought him over to Egypt; and imposed a tribute on the land, a 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 Pharao Nechao made Eliakim the son of Josias king over Juda in the room of his father Josias, and changed his name [to] Joakim. And Pharao Nechao took his brother Joachaz and brought him into Egypt, and he died there: but [he] had given the silver and gold to Pharao. At that time the land began to be taxed to give the money at the command of Pharao; and every one as he could borrowed the silver and the gold of the people of the land, to give to Pharao Nechao.

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 Joachim was twenty-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.

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 And Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon came up against him, and bound him with brazen fetters, and carried him away 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 And he carried away a part of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon, and put them in his temple in 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 And the rest of the acts of Joakim, and all that he did, behold, [are] not these things written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Juda? And Joakim slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in Ganozae: and Jechonias 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 Jechonias [was] eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem, and 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 at the turn of the year, king Nabuchodonosor sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the precious vessels of the house of the Lord, and made Sedekias his father's brother king over Juda 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 Sedekias [was] twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and be 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: he was not ashamed before the prophet Jeremias, nor because of the word 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 in that he rebelled against king Nabuchodonosor, which he adjured him by God [not to do]: but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart, so as not to return to 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 And all the great men of Juda, and the priests, and the people of the land transgressed abundantly in the abominations of the heathen, and polluted the house of the Lord which [was] 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 by the hand of his prophets; rising early and sending his messengers, for he spared his people, and his sanctuary.

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 Nevertheless they sneered at his messengers, and set at nothing his words, and mocked his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose up 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 And he brought against them the king of the Chaldeans, and killed their young men with the sword in the house of his sanctuary, and did not spare Sedekias, and had no mercy upon their virgins, and they led away their old men: he delivered all things into their hands.

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, the great and the small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and all the treasures of the king and the great men; he brought all 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 he burnt the house of the Lord, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt its palaces with fire, and [utterly destroyed] every beautiful vessel.

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 he carried away the remnant to Babylon; and they were servants to him and to his sons until [the establishment of] the kingdom of the Medes.

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 That the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremias might be fulfilled, until the land should enjoy its sabbaths in resting [and] sabbath keeping all the days of its desolation, till the accomplishment of seventy 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 In the first year of Cyrus king of the Persians, after the fulfillment of the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremias, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of the Persians, and told him to make proclamation in writing throughout all his kingdom, 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 says Cyrus king of the Persians to all the kingdoms of the earth, The Lord God of heaven has given me [power], and he has commanded me to build a house to him in Jerusalem, in Judea. Who [is there] of you of all his people? His God shall 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.”