2 Kings 23:29–24:7

²⁹In his days, Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, went up against the king of Assyria at the Euphrates River. King Josiah went to meet him, and he^l killed him at Megiddo as soon as he saw him. ³⁰So his servants drove him dead in a chariot from Megiddo, and they brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his tomb. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father.

Jehoahaz Reigns in Judah

³¹Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old^m when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah. ³²He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh according to all his ancestorsⁿ had done. ³³Then Pharaoh Neco confined him at Riblah in the land of Hamath, from reigning in Jerusalem, and imposed a levy on the land of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

Jehoiakim Replaces Jehoahaz

³⁴Then Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in place of Josiah his father, and he changed his name to Jehoiakim. Then he took Jehoahaz and brought him to Egypt, and he died there. ³⁵The silver and the gold Jehoiakim gave to Pharaoh; however, he taxed the land to give the silver to meet the demands of Pharaoh.^o Each according to assessment, he exacted payment of the silver and the gold from the people of the land to give to Pharaoh Neco.

³⁶Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old^p when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Zebudah,^q the daughter of Pedaiah from Rumah. ³⁷He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that his ancestors^r had done.

First Invasion of Nebuchadnezzar; Jehoiakim Submits

24In his days, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up because Jehoiakim had become his servant for three years; then he turned and rebelled against him. ²So Yahweh sent against him raiding bands of Chaldeans, raiding bands of Aram, raiding bands of Moab, and raiding bands of the Ammonites.^a He had sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of Yahweh that he had spoken by the hand of his servants the prophets. ³Surely, it was on the command^b of Yahweh against Judah to remove them from his sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done. ⁴Also, for the blood of the innocent that he had shed—and he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood—Yahweh was not willing to forgive. ⁵The remainder of the acts of Jehoiakim and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? ⁶So Jehoiakim slept with his ancestors,^c and Jehoiachin his son became king in his place. ⁷The king of Egypt did not again come out from his land, for the king of Babylon had taken, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Euphrates River, all that belonged to the king of Egypt.