God's Judgment on Jehoiachin

^24 (A)The Lord said to King Jehoiachin, son of King Jehoiakim of Judah, “As surely as I am the living God, even if you were the signet ring on my right hand, I would pull you off ²⁵ and give you to people you are afraid of, people who want to kill you. I will give you to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia and his soldiers. ²⁶ I am going to force you and your mother into exile. You will go to a country where neither of you was born, and both of you will die there. ²⁷ You will long to see this country again, but you will never return.”

²⁸ I said, “Has King Jehoiachin become like a broken jar that is thrown away and that no one wants? Is that why he and his children have been taken into exile to a land they know nothing about?”

King Joash of Judah^(A)

24 Joash became king of Judah at the age of seven, and he ruled in Jerusalem for forty years. His mother was Zibiah from the city of Beersheba. ² He did what was pleasing to the Lord as long as Jehoiada the priest was alive. ³ Jehoiada chose two wives for King Joash, and they bore him sons and daughters.

⁴ After he had been king for a while, Joash decided to have the Temple repaired. ⁵ He ordered the priests and the Levites to go to the cities of Judah and collect from all the people enough money to make the annual repairs on the Temple. He told them to act promptly, but the Levites delayed, ^6 (B)so he called in Jehoiada, their leader, and demanded, “Why haven't you seen to it that the Levites collect from Judah and Jerusalem the tax which Moses, the servant of the Lord, required the people^[a] to pay for support of the Tent of the Lord's presence?”

(⁷ The followers of Athaliah, that corrupt woman,^[b] had damaged the Temple and had used many of the sacred objects in the worship of Baal.)

⁸ The king ordered the Levites to make a box for contributions and to place it at the Temple gate. ⁹ They sent word throughout Jerusalem and Judah for everyone to bring to the Lord the tax which Moses, God's servant, had first collected in the wilderness. ¹⁰ This pleased the people and their leaders, and they brought their tax money and filled the box with it.

King Hezekiah of Judah^(A)

29 Hezekiah became king of Judah at the age of twenty-five, and he ruled in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years. His mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. ² Following the example of his ancestor King David, he did what was pleasing to the Lord.

^12 (A)“Ask these rebels if they know what the parable means. Tell them that the king of Babylonia came to Jerusalem and took the king and his officials back with him to Babylonia.

^10 (A)When spring came, King Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin to Babylonia as a prisoner and carried off the treasures of the Temple. Then Nebuchadnezzar made Jehoiachin's uncle^[a] Zedekiah king of Judah and Jerusalem.