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And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and made him king in place of his father in Jerusalem.

And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and he changed his name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Jehoahaz his brother and brought him to Egypt.

Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh his God.

Now the remainder of the words of Jehoiakim and the detestable things that he did and what was found against him, behold, they are written in the scroll of the kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.

And at the turn of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, with objects of the treasure of the house of Yahweh. And he made Zedekiah his brother king in Judah and Jerusalem.

And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet who spoke for Yahweh.

And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to Yahweh, the God of Israel.

And Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, had repeatedly and persistently sent to them by the hand of his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place.

But they were mocking the messengers of God and despising his words and scoffing at his prophets until the wrath of Yahweh rose against his people until there was no remedy.

Therefore he brought against them the king of the Chaldeans, and he killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary. He showed no mercy on a young man, a virgin, the elderly, or decrepit. He delivered all into his hand.

And all the vessels of the house of God, the great and the small, the storehouses of the house of Yahweh, and the storehouses of the king and his princes, these all he brought to Babylon.

And he took those who escaped the sword to Babylon. And they became servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia,

And in the first year of Cyrus, the king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of Yahweh by the mouth of Jeremiah, Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also in writing, saying:

"Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia: ‘Yahweh the God of heaven has given to me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has appointed me to build a house for him at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you from all his people, may Yahweh his God go up with him.'"

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to accomplish the word of Yahweh by the mouth of Jeremiah, Yahweh stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia and he sent a message to all of his kingdom and also put the message in writing:

Whoever among you who is from all of his people, may his God be with him and may he go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and may he build the house of Yahweh, the God of Israel. He is the God who is in Jerusalem.

And Cyrus the king brought out the objects of the house of Yahweh that Nebuchadnezzar had brought from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods.

Now these were the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exile whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon carried captive to Babylonia. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own city.

And Jeshua son of Jehozadak and his brothers the priests stood up, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brothers built the altar of the God of Israel, in order to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God.

And Jeshua with his sons and brothers, and Kadmiel and his sons—the sons of Judah—together directed the workers in the house of God, along with the sons of Henadad and their sons and brothers the Levites.