42. The stories about Jehoiakim, his depravity, and the godless way he lived are recorded in The Chronicles of the Kings.
43. Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he succeeded his father Jehoiakim as king,
44. and he ruled in Jerusalem for three months and ten days. He too sinned against the Lord.
45. A year later King Nebuchadnezzar had Jehoiachin taken to Babylonia as a prisoner; Nebuchadnezzar also carried off sacred utensils from the Temple.
46. Then he made Zedekiah king of Judah and Jerusalem.Zedekiah was then 21 years old, and he ruled for eleven years.
47. He sinned against the Lord and refused to listen to the prophet Jeremiah, who spoke the word of the Lord.
48. Although King Nebuchadnezzar had forced Zedekiah to swear in the Lord's name that he would be loyal to him, Zedekiah broke his oath and rebelled against him. He stubbornly refused to obey the commands of the Lord, the God of Israel.
49. In addition, the leaders of the people and even the chief priests did more lawless and godless things than all the corrupt heathen; they defiled the Temple of the Lord, which he had made holy.
50. The God of their ancestors had continued to send prophets to call them back from their sins, because he wanted to spare them and their Temple.
51. But when the Lord spoke through his prophets, the people ridiculed them and laughed.
52. At last the Lord became so angry with his people and their depraved ways that he ordered the kings of Babylonia to attack them.
53. The Babylonians killed the young men of Judah all round the Temple and did not spare anyone, young or old, man or woman. The Lord handed them all over to their enemies.
54. The Babylonians carried off all the sacred utensils from the Temple, the treasure chests, and the wealth of the king; they took everything away to Babylon, leaving nothing behind.
55. They burnt down the Temple, broke down the city wall, set fire to its towers,
56. and completely destroyed all its beauty. Nebuchadnezzar forced all the survivors to be led away to Babylon,
57. where they served him and his descendants as slaves until the rise of the Persian Empire. And so what the Lord had foretold through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
58. “The land will lie desolate for seventy years to make up for the Sabbath rest that has not been observed.”