In his time, Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon invaded the country, and for three years Joakim was his vassal; then he rebelled against him.

But the Lord sent enemies to attack him, freebooters from Chaldaea, Syria, Moab and Ammon; sent them to attack Juda and lay it waste, in fulfilment of the threat which his servants the prophets had uttered in his name.

It was by the Lord’s own decree that this befell; he would banish Juda from his presence, in return for all Manasses’ sins;

and for all those innocent lives taken, in the days when Jerusalem ran with guiltless blood till the Lord refused to pardon it.

What else Joakim did, all his history, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Juda. So Joakim was laid to rest with his fathers,

and the throne passed to his son Joachin.

Meanwhile, the king of Egypt advanced no more beyond his own frontiers; all the possessions he held, from the brook of Egypt right up to the river Euphrates, the king of Babylon had taken away from him.

Joachin was eighteen years old when he came to the throne, and his reign in Jerusalem lasted but three months; his mother’s name was Nohesta, daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.

He disobeyed the Lord’s will no less than his father before him.

It was in his time that the forces of Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, marched against Jerusalem, and siege was laid to the city;

and Nabuchodonosor came there in person to be with them, and to press on the siege.

Whereupon Joachin, king of Juda, gave himself up, with his mother, his servants, his nobles, and his chamberlains; and the king of Babylon, in this, the eighth year of his reign, accepted the surrender.

All the treasures of temple and palace he took away, and cut in pieces all the golden ornaments Solomon, king of Israel, had set up in the temple, so fulfilling what the Lord had prophesied.✻

All the citizens of Jerusalem he carried off as prisoners, the noblemen, and the best warriors in the army, ten thousand of them, the craftsmen and the smiths; none were left except the poor folk in the country-side.

To Babylon Joachin must go, with his mother and his wives and his chamberlains; for Babylon all the judges in the land must leave Jerusalem as exiles;

to Babylon Nabuchodonosor removed seven thousand warriors, and a thousand craftsmen and smiths, all that had strength to bear arms.

In place of Joachin, he made his uncle Matthanias king, giving him the name of Sedecias.

Sedecias was twenty-one years old when he came to the throne, and his reign at Jerusalem lasted eleven years; his mother’s name was Amital, daughter of Jeremias of Lobna.

He disobeyed the Lord’s will, as Joakim had;

for now the Lord’s anger hung over Juda and Jerusalem, ready to banish them from his presence. And Sedecias in his turn revolted against the king of Babylon.