1. Then people of the land took Josiah’s son Jehoahaz and made him king in Jerusalem in place of his father.
2. Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he became king, and he was king in Jerusalem for 3 months.
3. The king of Egypt removed him from office in Jerusalem and fined the country 7,500 pounds of silver and 75 pounds of gold.
4. The king of Egypt made Jehoahaz’s brother Eliakim king of Judah and Jerusalem and changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. Neco took Jehoahaz away to Egypt.
5. Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for 11 years in Jerusalem. He did what the Lord his God considered evil.
6. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked Jehoiakim and put him in bronze shackles to take him to Babylon.
7. Nebuchadnezzar also brought some of the utensils of the Lord’s temple to Babylon. He put them in his palace in Babylon.
8. Everything else about Jehoiakim—the disgusting things he did and all the charges against him—is written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. His son Jehoiakin succeeded him as king.
9. Jehoiakin was eight years old when he began to rule as king. He was king for three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did what the Lord considered evil.
10. In the spring King Nebuchadnezzar sent for Jehoiakin and brought him to Babylon with the valuable utensils from the Lord’s temple. Nebuchadnezzar made Jehoiakin’s uncle Zedekiah king of Judah and Jerusalem.
11. Zedekiah was 21 years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for 11 years in Jerusalem.
12. He did what the Lord his God considered evil and didn’t humble himself in front of the prophet Jeremiah, who spoke for the Lord.
13. Zedekiah also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar had made Zedekiah swear an oath of allegiance to him in God’s name. But Zedekiah became so stubborn and so impossible to deal with that he refused to turn back to the Lord God of Israel.