MELAKIM 2-24

1 In his days Neḇuḵaḏnetstsar sovereign of Baḇel came up, and Yahoyaqim became his servant for three years. And he turned and rebelled against him.

2 And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 sent against him raiding bands of Kasdites, and raiding bands of Aram, and raiding bands of Mo’aḇ, and raiding bands of the children of Ammon. And He sent them against Yahuḏah to destroy it, according to the word of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 which He had spoken by His servants the neḇi’im.

3 Only at the command of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 this came upon Yahuḏah, to remove from His presence, because of the sins of Menashsheh, according to all that he did,

4 and also because of the innocent blood that he shed. For he filled Yerushalayim with innocent blood, which 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 would not forgive.

5 And the rest of the acts of Yahoyaqim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the sovereigns of Yahuḏah?

6 So Yahoyaqim slept with his fathers. And Yahoyaḵin his son reigned in his place.

7 And the sovereign of Mitsrayim did not come out of his land again, for the sovereign of Baḇel had taken all that belonged to the sovereign of Mitsrayim from the wadi of Mitsrayim to the River Perath.

8 Yahoyaḵin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Yerushalayim three months. And his mother’s name was Neḥushta the daughter of Elnathan of Yerushalayim.

9 And he did evil in the eyes of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, according to all that his father did.

10 At that time the servants of Neḇuḵaḏnetstsar sovereign of Baḇel came up against Yerushalayim, and the city was besieged.

11 And Neḇuḵaḏnetstsar sovereign of Baḇel came against the city, as his servants were besieging it.

12 And Yahoyaḵin sovereign of Yahuḏah, and his mother, and his servants, and his heads, and his eunuchs went out to the sovereign of Baḇel. And the sovereign of Baḇel, in the eighth year of his reign, took him prisoner.

13 And he took from there all the treasures of the House of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 and the treasures of the sovereign’s house, and he cut in pieces all the objects of gold which Shelomoh sovereign of Yisra’ĕl had made in the Hĕyḵal of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, as 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 had said.

14 And he exiled all Yerushalayim, and all the officers and all the mighty brave men – ten thousand exiles – and all the craftsmen and smiths. None remained except the poorest people of the land.

15 And he exiled Yahoyaḵin to Baḇel. And the sovereign’s mother, and the sovereign’s wives, and his eunuchs, and the leading men of the land he exiled from Yerushalayim to Baḇel.

16 And all the mighty brave men, seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths, one thousand, all who were strong and fit for battle, these the sovereign of Baḇel brought to Baḇel into exile.

17 And the sovereign of Baḇel appointed Mattanyah, Yahoyaḵin’s uncle, to reign in his place, and changed his name to Tsiḏqiyahu.

18 Tsiḏqiyahu was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Yerushalayim. And his mother’s name was Ḥamutal the daughter of Yirmeyahu of Liḇnah.

19 And he did evil in the eyes of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, according to all that Yahoyaqim did.

20 For this took place in Yerushalayim and Yahuḏah because of the displeasure of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, until He had cast them out from His presence. And Tsiḏqiyahu rebelled against the sovereign of Baḇel.