24: 2 And Jehovah sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of Jehovah, which he spake by his servants the prophets.
24: 3 Surely 188at the commandment of Jehovah came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did,
188Sept., (Aram.) read on account of the anger of
24: 4 and also for the innocent blood that he shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood: and Jehovah would not pardon.
24: 5 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
24: 6 So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers; and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.
24: 7 And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land; for the king of Babylon had taken, from the brook of Egypt unto the river Euphrates, all that pertained to the king of Egypt.
24: 8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign; and he reigned in Jerusalem three months: and his mother’s name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.
24: 9 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that his father had done.
24: 10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon 189came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.
189The Babylonian account, in Nebuchadnezzar II’s 7th year, says, In the (9th) month Kislimu, the king of Akkad called up his army, marched against Syria (lit. Hattu-land), encamped against the city of Judah and seized the town on the second day of the (12th) month Adar. He captured the king. He appointed there a king of his own choice. He took much booty from it and sent it to Babylon. [J.B. Pritchard, The Ancient Near East, Vol. 1; p. 203.]
24: 11 And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came unto the city, while his servants were besieging it;
24: 12 and Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his 190officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.
190Or, eunuchs: Also in vs. 15.
24: 13 And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold, which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of Jehovah, as Jehovah had said.
24: 14 And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths; none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land.
24: 15 And he carried away 191Jehoiachin to Babylon; and the king’s mother, and the king’s wives, and his officers, and the 192chief men of the land, carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.
191Some rations appointed in Babylon are given in text Babylon 28186, 10 sila of oil to Jehoiakin, the son of the king of Judah; 2½ sila of oil for the five sons of the king of Judah through Qana’a... [ANET, p. 308.] Apparently Pedaiah and another of the seven sons had already died. Cf. 1Chr 3:17.
192Or, mighty men of the land,
24: 16 And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths a thousand, all of them strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.
24: 17 And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, jehoiachin’s father’s brother, king in his stead, and changed his name to 193Zedekiah.
193That is, Righteousness of Jehovah. Cf. 2Chr 36:13
24: 18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was 194Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
194Hb. Hamital
24: 19 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.
24: 20 For through the anger of Jehovah did it come to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
