1. After the death of Josiah, the people of Judah crowned his son Jehoahaz their new king.
2. He was twenty-three years old at the time, and he ruled only three months from Jerusalem.
3. King Neco of Egypt captured Jehoahaz and forced Judah to pay three thousand four hundred kilogrammes of silver and thirty-four kilogrammes of gold as taxes.
4. Then Neco appointed Jehoahaz's brother Eliakim king of Judah and changed his name to Jehoiakim. He led Jehoahaz away to Egypt as his prisoner.
5. Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he was appointed king, and he ruled eleven years from Jerusalem. Jehoiakim disobeyed the Lord his God by doing evil.
6. During Jehoiakim's rule, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia invaded Judah. He arrested Jehoiakim and put him in chains, and he sent him to the capital city of Babylon.
7. Nebuchadnezzar also carried off many of the valuable things in the Lord's temple, and he put them in his palace in Babylon.
8. Everything else Jehoiakim did while he was king, including all the disgusting and evil things, is written in The History of the Kings of Israel and Judah. His son Jehoiachin then became king.
9. Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled only three months and ten days from Jerusalem. Jehoiachin also disobeyed the Lord by doing evil.
10. In the spring of the year, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia had Jehoiachin arrested and taken to Babylon, along with more of the valuable items in the temple. Then Nebuchadnezzar appointed Zedekiah king of Judah.
11. Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he was appointed king of Judah, and he ruled from Jerusalem for eleven years.
12. He disobeyed the Lord his God and refused to change his ways, even after a warning from Jeremiah, the Lord's prophet.
13. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia had forced Zedekiah to promise in God's name that he would be loyal. Zedekiah was stubborn and refused to turn back to the Lord God of Israel, so he rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar.
14. The people of Judah and even the priests who were their leaders became more unfaithful. They followed the disgusting example of the nations around them and made the Lord's holy temple unfit for worship.