猶大王約哈斯
1猶大人在耶路撒冷立約西亞的兒子約哈斯接替他父親做王。 2約哈斯二十三歲登基，在耶路撒冷執政三個月。 3埃及王在耶路撒冷廢掉他，並要求猶大向埃及進貢三點四噸銀子、三十四公斤金子。 4埃及王另立約哈斯的兄弟以利雅敬為王統治猶大和耶路撒冷，給他改名為約雅敬，並把約哈斯帶到埃及。
猶大王約雅敬
5約雅敬二十五歲登基，在耶路撒冷執政十一年。他做他的上帝耶和華視為惡的事。 6巴比倫王尼布甲尼撒起兵攻打他，用銅鏈把他鎖著帶到巴比倫。 7尼布甲尼撒把耶和華殿裡的一些器皿帶到巴比倫，放在他在巴比倫的王宮裡36·7 「王宮裡」或譯「神廟裡」。。 8約雅敬其他的事及可憎行徑和惡跡都記在以色列和猶大的列王史上。他兒子約雅斤繼位。
猶大王約雅斤
9約雅斤十八歲36·9 「十八歲」希伯來文是「八歲」，七十士譯本、敘利亞譯本和列王紀下24·8是「十八歲」。登基，在耶路撒冷執政三個月零十天。他做耶和華視為惡的事。 10那年春天，尼布甲尼撒王派人把他和耶和華殿裡的貴重器皿一同帶到巴比倫。尼布甲尼撒另立約雅斤的叔叔36·10 「叔叔」參考列王紀下24·17。西底迦做猶大和耶路撒冷的王。
猶大王西底迦
11西底迦二十一歲登基，在耶路撒冷執政十一年。 12他做他的上帝耶和華視為惡的事，耶利米先知向他傳講耶和華的話，他仍不肯在耶利米面前謙卑下來。
耶路撒冷淪陷
13尼布甲尼撒曾讓他奉上帝的名起誓，他卻背叛了尼布甲尼撒。他頑固不化，不肯歸向以色列的上帝耶和華。 14所有祭司長和民眾也都仿效外族人的一切可憎行徑，犯了大罪，玷污了耶和華在耶路撒冷使之聖潔的殿。 15他們祖先的上帝耶和華因為憐愛祂的子民和祂的居所，就不斷派使者來勸告他們。 16他們卻嘲弄耶和華上帝的使者，藐視祂的話，嘲笑祂的先知，以致祂的憤怒臨到祂的子民身上，無可挽救。
17耶和華使迦勒底人的王起兵攻打他們，在他們的聖殿裡用刀擊殺他們的壯丁，毫不憐憫少男少女、老人和年高者。耶和華把他們全部交在他的手中。 18上帝殿裡的大小器皿，以及耶和華殿裡、王宮裡和眾官員的所有珍寶，都被他帶到巴比倫去了。 19迦勒底人焚燒上帝的殿，拆毀耶路撒冷的城牆，並且焚燒所有的宮殿，毀壞其中所有珍貴的器皿。 20沒有被殺戮的人都被擄往巴比倫，做他和他子孫的奴隸，直到波斯帝國的時代。 21這就應驗了耶和華藉耶利米之口所說的話：這片土地享受了安息，它在荒涼中守安息，直到滿了七十年。
塞魯士王准許被擄之民返國
22波斯王塞魯士元年，耶和華為了應驗祂藉耶利米所說的話，就感動波斯王塞魯士，使他下詔通告全國： 23「波斯王塞魯士如此說，『天上的上帝耶和華已把天下萬國都賜給我，祂吩咐我在猶大的耶路撒冷為祂建造殿宇。你們當中凡屬耶和華的子民，都可以去那裡。願你們的上帝耶和華與你們同在！』」
1The people of the land went and got Jehoahaz. He was the son of Josiah. The people made Jehoahaz king in Jerusalem in place of his father.
Jehoahaz King of Judah
2Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for three months. 3The king of Egypt removed him from his throne in Jerusalem. The king of Egypt made the people of Judah pay him a huge tax. The tax was almost four tons of silver and 75 pounds of gold. 4Necho, the king of Egypt, made Eliakim king over Judah and Jerusalem. Eliakim was a brother of Jehoahaz. Necho changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But Necho took Eliakim’s brother Jehoahaz with him to Egypt.
Jehoiakim King of Judah
5Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 11 years. He did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord his God. 6Nebuchadnezzar attacked him. Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon. He put Jehoiakim in bronze chains. And he took him to Babylon. 7Nebuchadnezzar also took to Babylon objects from the Lord’s temple. He put them in his own temple there.
8The other events of Jehoiakim’s rule are written in the records of the kings of Israel and Judah. He did things the Lord hated. Those things and everything that happened to him are also written in those records. Jehoiakim’s son Jehoiachin became the next king after him.
Jehoiachin King of Judah
9Jehoiachin was 18 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for three months and ten days. He did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord. 10In the spring, King Nebuchadnezzar sent for him. He brought him to Babylon. He also brought things of value from the Lord’s temple. He made Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem. Zedekiah was Jehoiachin’s uncle.
Zedekiah King of Judah
11Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 11 years. 12He did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord his God. He didn’t pay any attention to the message the Lord spoke through Jeremiah the prophet. 13Zedekiah also refused to remain under the control of King Nebuchadnezzar. The king had forced Zedekiah to make a promise in God’s name. But Zedekiah’s heart became very stubborn. He wouldn’t turn to the Lord, the God of Israel. 14And that’s not all. The people and all the leaders of the priests became more and more unfaithful. They followed all the practices of the nations. The Lord hated those practices. The people and leaders made the Lord’s temple “unclean.” The Lord had set the temple in Jerusalem apart in a special way for himself.
The Fall of Jerusalem
15The Lord, the God of Israel, sent word to his people through his messengers. He sent it to them again and again. He took pity on his people. He also took pity on the temple where he lived. 16But God’s people made fun of his messengers. They hated his words. They laughed at his prophets. Finally the Lord’s great anger was stirred up against his people. Nothing could save them. 17The Lord brought the king of the Babylonians against them. The Babylonian army killed their young people with their swords at the temple. They didn’t spare young men or young women. They didn’t spare the old people or weak people either. God handed all of them over to Nebuchadnezzar. 18Nebuchadnezzar carried off to Babylon all the objects from God’s temple. Some of those things were large. Others were small. He carried off the treasures of the temple. He also carried off the treasures that belonged to the king and his officials. 19The Babylonians set God’s temple on fire. They broke down the wall of Jerusalem. They burned all the palaces. They destroyed everything of value there.
20Nebuchadnezzar took the rest of the people to Babylon as prisoners. They had escaped from being killed by swords. They served him and those who ruled after him. That lasted until the kingdom of Persia came to power. 21The land of Israel enjoyed its sabbath years. It rested. That deserted land wasn’t farmed for a full 70 years. What the Lord had spoken through Jeremiah came true.
22It was the first year of the rule of Cyrus. He was king of Persia. The Lord inspired him to send a message all through his kingdom. It happened so that what the Lord had spoken through Jeremiah would come true. The message was written down. It said,
23“Cyrus, the king of Persia, says,
“ ‘The Lord is the God of heaven. He has given me all the kingdoms on earth. He has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem. And may the Lord their God be with them.’ ”
