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Reign of Jehoahaz. 31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah.(A)

32 He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, just as his ancestors had done. 33 Pharaoh Neco took him prisoner at Riblah in the land of Hamath, thus ending his reign in Jerusalem. He imposed a fine upon the land of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.[a] 34 Pharaoh Neco then made Eliakim, son of Josiah, king in place of Josiah his father; he changed his name to Jehoiakim. Jehoahaz he took away with him to Egypt, where he died. 35 Jehoiakim gave the silver and gold to Pharaoh, but taxed the land to raise the amount Pharaoh demanded. He exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land, from each proportionately, to pay Pharaoh Neco.

Reign of Jehoiakim. 36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebidah, daughter of Pedaiah, from Rumah.

37 He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, just as his ancestors had done.

Chapter 24

During Jehoiakim’s reign Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, attacked, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. Then Jehoiakim turned and rebelled against him. The Lord loosed against him bands of Chaldeans, Arameans, Moabites, and Ammonites; he unleashed them against Judah to destroy him, according to the Lord’s word spoken through his servants the prophets. This befell Judah because the Lord had stated that he would put them out of his sight for the sins Manasseh had committed in all that he did, and especially because of the innocent blood he shed; he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord would not forgive.(B)

The rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, with all that he did, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah. Jehoiakim rested with his ancestors, and his son Jehoiachin succeeded him as king. The king of Egypt did not again leave his own land, for the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt from the wadi of Egypt to the Euphrates River.

Footnotes

  1. 23:33 A talent of gold: unless the fine imposed was a mere token, this figure seems too low; cf. 18:14. A number may have dropped from the Hebrew text; various ancient translations read “ten” or “one hundred” here.