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The Histories · Old Testament

2 Kings 24

2 Kings 24: Nebuchadnezzar takes Jerusalem, Jehoiachin goes captive, and Zedekiah rebels

General context

In Jehoiakim's days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon comes up, and Jehoiakim serves him three years, then rebels. The narrator says the Lord sends bands of Chaldees, Syrians, Moabites and Ammonites against Judah according to the word of the prophets, and that this came at the Lord's command for the sins of Manasseh and the innocent blood he shed, which the Lord would not pardon. Jehoiakim dies and Jehoiachin reigns. The king of Egypt does not come out again, because Babylon has taken all his territory from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates. Jehoiachin is eighteen, reigns three months, and does evil. Nebuchadnezzar's servants besiege Jerusalem and the king himself comes. Jehoiachin goes out to him with his mother, servants, princes and officers, and the king of Babylon takes him in the eighth year of his own reign. He carries off the treasures of the house of the Lord and the king's house, cuts in pieces the gold vessels Solomon made, as the Lord had said, and carries away all Jerusalem: princes, mighty men, ten thousand captives, craftsmen and smiths, leaving only the poorest of the land. Jehoiachin, his mother and wives, the officers and seven thousand men of might go to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar makes Mattaniah, Jehoiachin's father's brother, king and renames him Zedekiah. Zedekiah is twenty-one, reigns eleven years, and does evil as Jehoiakim did. The narrator says that through the Lord's anger, until he had cast them from his presence, Zedekiah rebels against the king of Babylon.

Cited passages: 2 Kings 24:1, 2 Kings 24:2, 2 Kings 24:3, 2 Kings 24:4, 2 Kings 24:6, 2 Kings 24:7, 2 Kings 24:8, 2 Kings 24:9, 2 Kings 24:10, 2 Kings 24:11, 2 Kings 24:12, 2 Kings 24:13, 2 Kings 24:14, 2 Kings 24:15, 2 Kings 24:16, 2 Kings 24:17, 2 Kings 24:18, 2 Kings 24:19, 2 Kings 24:20

2 Kings 24 (KJV)

1In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him.

2And the Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldees, 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 the Lord, which he spake by his servants the prophets.

3Surely at the commandment of the Lord came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did;

4And also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the Lord would not pardon.

5Now 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?

6So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.

7And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land: for the king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt.

8Jehoiachin 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.

9And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father had done.

10At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.

11And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it.

12And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.

13And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the Lord, 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 the Lord, as the Lord had said.

14And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land.

15And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king’s mother, and the king’s wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.

16And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all that were strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.

17And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his father’s brother king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

18Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

19And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

20For through the anger of the Lord it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

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Historical context

Three kings of Judah pass in this chapter, and the text keeps them distinct: Jehoiakim, the Eliakim renamed by Pharaoh in the previous chapter, his son Jehoiachin, and Mattaniah, called Jehoiachin's father's brother, whom the king of Babylon renames Zedekiah. Zedekiah's mother is Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah, the same mother named for Jehoahaz, so the text makes him Jehoahaz's full brother and Jehoiakim's brother; Jeremiah of Libnah is not identified with the prophet. The narrator does not report Jehoiakim's death beyond the formula that he slept with his fathers, and gives no burial notice. The eighth year in verse 12 is the king of Babylon's, not Jehoiachin's. Two sets of numbers are given for the deportation, ten thousand captives in verse 14 and seven thousand men of might with a thousand craftsmen in verse 16; the text does not say how they relate. The removal of the temple treasures is tied to what the Lord had said, which chapter 20 records in Isaiah's word to Hezekiah. The narrator attributes the Chaldean bands and the exile itself to the sins of Manasseh and his innocent blood, repeating chapter 21. The chapter does not say why Jehoiakim rebelled, why Jehoiachin went out to the king of Babylon, or why Zedekiah rebelled; the last is stated only as the outcome of the Lord's anger.

Cited passages: 2 Kings 23:34, 2 Kings 24:6, 2 Kings 24:17, 2 Kings 24:18, 2 Kings 23:31, 2 Kings 24:12, 2 Kings 24:14, 2 Kings 24:16, 2 Kings 24:13, 2 Kings 20:17, 2 Kings 24:3, 2 Kings 21:16, 2 Kings 24:1, 2 Kings 24:20

Literary context

The chapter moves fast, three reigns in twenty verses, and twice the narrator pauses to explain rather than narrate. The first pause blames the sins of Manasseh, the second says Zedekiah's rebellion happened through the Lord's anger; both frame the political events as the working out of judgments already spoken. The deportation is told as a list that keeps widening, treasures, vessels, all Jerusalem, princes, mighty men, craftsmen and smiths, king, mother, wives, officers, until the narrator says none remained but the poorest. Solomon's gold vessels cut in pieces reverse the temple's founding. Two renamings, Eliakim to Jehoiakim by Pharaoh in the previous chapter and Mattaniah to Zedekiah by Babylon here, mark the kings as appointees of foreign powers. The verdict on each king is the same formula, evil in the sight of the Lord, and the chapter closes on the word rebelled, which leads straight into the siege of chapter 25.

Cited passages: 2 Kings 24:3, 2 Kings 24:20, 2 Kings 24:2, 2 Kings 24:13, 2 Kings 24:14, 2 Kings 24:15, 2 Kings 23:34, 2 Kings 24:17, 2 Kings 24:9, 2 Kings 24:19, 2 Kings 25:1

Key moments

  1. Jehoiakim rebels against Babylon (2 Kings 24:1). After serving Nebuchadnezzar three years, Jehoiakim turns and rebels.
  2. Blood the Lord would not pardon (2 Kings 24:4). The narrator ties Judah's judgment to the innocent blood Manasseh shed.
  3. Jehoiachin goes out to Babylon's king (2 Kings 24:12). Jehoiachin, his mother and his officers surrender, and Nebuchadnezzar takes him.
  4. Solomon's vessels cut in pieces (2 Kings 24:13). The temple and palace treasures are carried off and the gold vessels cut up, as the Lord had said.
  5. Only the poorest remain (2 Kings 24:14). Ten thousand captives, the craftsmen and the smiths are taken from Jerusalem.
  6. Mattaniah renamed Zedekiah (2 Kings 24:17). The king of Babylon makes Jehoiachin's uncle king and changes his name.
  7. Zedekiah rebels (2 Kings 24:20). The narrator says Zedekiah's rebellion came through the Lord's anger.

For reflection

The narrator says the Lord would not pardon the innocent blood Manasseh shed, and that Judah's fall came for his sins. What does the chapter leave a reader to think about the people carried away for wrongs done in an earlier reign?

People in this chapter

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