1Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded Judah. Jehoiakim king of Judah was forced to serve him for three years. Then he rebelled and fought against him. 2Jehovah sent raiding parties of Babylonians, Arameans, Moabites, and Ammonites against Jehoiakim to destroy Judah as Jehovah predicted through his servants the prophets. 3This happened to Judah because Jehovah commanded it to happen. He wanted to remove the people of Judah from his sight because of Manasseh's sins and everything he had done, 4and especially because of all the innocent people he killed. Jehovah would not forgive Manasseh for that. 5The rest of the acts of Jehoiakim are written in the Book of the History of the Days of the Kings of Judah. 6Jehoiakim slept with his fathers. Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place. 7The king of Egypt did not leave his own country again because the king of Babylon captured all the territory from the River of Egypt to the Euphrates River. This territory belonged to the king of Egypt. 8Jehoiakin was eighteen years old when he became king. He was king for three months in Jerusalem. His mother was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan from Jerusalem. 9Following the example of his father, Jehoiachin sinned against Jehovah. 10It was during his reign that the Babylonian army, commanded by King Nebuchadnezzar's officers, marched against Jerusalem and besieged it. 11During the siege Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem in person. 12King Jehoiachin of Judah, along with his mother, his sons, his officers, and the palace officials, surrendered to the Babylonians. In the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign he took Jehoiachin prisoner. 13The Babylonians carried off to Babylon all the treasures in the Temple and the palace. As Jehovah foretold, Nebuchadnezzar broke up all the gold utensils King Solomon had made for use in the Temple. 14Nebuchadnezzar carried away as prisoners the people of Jerusalem, all the royal princes, and all the leading men, ten thousand in all. He also deported all the skilled workers, including the blacksmiths, leaving only the poorest of the people behind in Judah. 15He took Jehoiakin to Babylon as a captive. He also took the king's mother, wives, eunuchs, and the leading citizens of the land from Jerusalem as captives to Babylon. 16Included as prisoners were all the men of war, seven thousand of them, and a thousand expert workmen and metalworkers, all of them strong and able to take up arms. 17The king of Babylon installed Mattaniah, his father's brother, king in place of Jehoiachin. He changed his name to Zedekiah. 18Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king. He was king in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother's name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 19He did evil in the eyes of Jehovah, as Jehoiakim had done. 20This happened in Jerusalem and Judah because of Jehovah’s anger. It continued until he had sent them all away from before him. Then Zedekiah took up arms and rebelled against the king of Babylon.