Jehoahaz Succeeds Josiah (2 Kings 23:31–35)
1 UDB Then the people of Judah chose Josiah's son Jehoahaz and appointed him to be the king in Jerusalem. BSB BSB: Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and made him king in Jerusalem in place of his father.
2 UDB Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became the king, but he ruled from Jerusalem for only three months. BSB BSB: Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months.
3 UDB The king of Egypt captured him and prevented him from ruling any longer. He also forced the people of Judah to pay to him a tax of three and one-third metric tons of silver and thirty-three kilograms of gold. BSB BSB: And the king of Egypt dethroned him in Jerusalem and imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
4 UDB The king of Egypt appointed Jehoahaz's younger brother Eliakim to be the king of Judah. He changed Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim. But Necho seized Jehoahaz and took him to Egypt. BSB BSB: Then Neco king of Egypt made Eliakim brother of Jehoahaz king over Judah and Jerusalem, and he changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Eliakim’s brother Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt.
Jehoiakim Reigns in Judah (2 Kings 23:36–37)
5 UDB Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became the king of Judah, and he ruled from Jerusalem for eleven years. He did many things that Yahweh said were evil. BSB BSB: Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD his God.
6 UDB Then the army of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked Jehoiakim's army. They captured Jehoiakim, fastened him with bronze chains, and took him to Babylon. BSB BSB: Then Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jehoiakim and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon.
7 UDB Nebuchadnezzar's soldiers also took valuable things from the temple. They took them to Babylon and put them in King Nebuchadnezzar's palace there. BSB BSB: Nebuchadnezzar also took to Babylon some of the articles from the house of the LORD, and he put them in his temple in Babylon.
8 UDB A record of the other things that happened while Jehoiakim was ruling, the disgusting things that he did and the evil things that people said that he did, is written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. After he was taken to Babylon, his son Jehoiachin became the king of Judah. BSB BSB: As for the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, the abominations he committed, and all that was found against him, they are indeed written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. And his son Jehoiachin reigned in his place.
Jehoiachin Reigns in Judah (2 Kings 24:6–9)
9 UDB Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became the king of Judah, and he ruled from Jerusalem for only three months and ten days. He did many things that Yahweh said were evil. BSB BSB: Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months and ten days. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD.
10 UDB 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. BSB BSB: In the spring, King Nebuchadnezzar summoned Jehoiachin and brought him to Babylon, along with the articles of value from the house of the LORD. And he made Jehoiachin’s relative Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.
Zedekiah Reigns in Judah (2 Kings 24:18–20; Jeremiah 52:1–3)
11 UDB Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became the king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. BSB BSB: Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years.
12 UDB He did many things that Yahweh said were evil. He did not humble himself when the prophet Jeremiah spoke to him a message from Yahweh to warn him. BSB BSB: And he did evil in the sight of the LORD his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke for the LORD.
13 UDB 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. BSB BSB: He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. But Zedekiah stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the LORD, the God of Israel.
14 UDB Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and also the people of Judah became more wicked again, doing all the disgusting 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. BSB BSB: Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people multiplied their unfaithful deeds, following all the abominations of the nations, and they defiled the house of the LORD, which He had consecrated in Jerusalem.
The Fall of Jerusalem (2 Kings 25:1–7)
15 UDB Yahweh, the God whom the ancestors of the people of Judah worshiped, gave messages to his prophets many times, and the prophets gave those messages to the people of Judah. Yahweh did that because he pitied his people and did not want his temple to be destroyed. BSB BSB: Again and again the LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to His people through His messengers because He had compassion on them and on His dwelling place.
16 UDB 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. BSB BSB: But they mocked the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD against His people was stirred up beyond remedy.
17 UDB 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 anyone, either young men or young women or old people. God enabled the army of Nebuchadnezzar to defeat all of them. BSB BSB: So He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who put their young men to the sword in the sanctuary, sparing neither young men nor young women, neither elderly nor infirm. God gave them all into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar,
18 UDB 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. BSB BSB: who carried off everything to Babylon—all the articles of the house of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD and of the king and his officials.
19 UDB 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. BSB BSB: Then the Chaldeans set fire to the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem. They burned down all the palaces and destroyed every article of value.
20 UDB Nebuchadnezzar's soldiers took to Babylon the remaining people who had not been killed with their swords, Those people became the king's slaves and his son's slaves, until the army of Persia conquered Babylonia. BSB BSB: Those who escaped the sword were carried by Nebuchadnezzar into exile in Babylon, and they became servants to him and his sons until the kingdom of Persia came to power.
21 UDB 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 seventy years, fulfilling what Yahweh had told Jeremiah would happen. BSB BSB: So the land enjoyed its Sabbath rest all the days of the desolation, until seventy years were completed, in fulfillment of the word of the LORD spoken through Jeremiah.
The Proclamation of Cyrus (Ezra 1:1–4; Isaiah 45:1–25)
23 UDB "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 has appointed me to command that my workers build a temple for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. I am allowing any of his people among you to go to Jerusalem. And I will pray that Yahweh will be with them." BSB BSB: “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, who has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, has appointed me to build a house for Him at Jerusalem in Judah. Whoever among you belongs to His people, may the LORD his God be with him, and may he go up.’”
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