2 Chronicles 36

KJV · Chapter 36/36

¹Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father’s stead in Jerusalem.

²Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.

³And the king of Egypt put him down at Jerusalem, and condemned the land in an hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

⁴And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and turned his name to Jehoiakim. And Necho took Jehoahaz his brother, and carried him to Egypt.

⁵Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God.

⁶Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon.

⁷Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon.

⁸Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and his abominations which he did, and that which was found in him, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.

⁹Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.

¹⁰And when the year was expired, king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of the Lord, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.

¹¹Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.

¹²And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord.

¹³And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from turning unto the Lord God of Israel.

¹⁴Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the Lord which he had hallowed in Jerusalem.

¹⁵And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place:

¹⁶But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy.

¹⁷Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand.

¹⁸And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon.

¹⁹And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof.

²⁰And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia:

²¹To fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.

²²Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,

²³Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? The Lord his God be with him, and let him go up.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

The book ends by quickly narrating Judah's final decline through four last weak and idolatrous kings, culminating in the complete destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Babylonians, and the exile of the people. The book concludes, however, on a note of hope: Cyrus's decree allowing the return and rebuilding.

Explanation

This final chapter summarizes, at an accelerated pace, decades of decline through four successive kings (Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah), all described as doing 'that which was evil in the sight of the LORD,' until God's patience, according to the text, runs out: 'the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy.' The destruction of the temple and the city, together with the exile to Babylon, represents the lowest point in the entire history narrated in Chronicles, an accumulated consequence of centuries of repeated unfaithfulness despite countless prophetic warnings. Remarkably, though, the book does not end in despair: the final verses, repeating almost word for word the opening of the book of Ezra, announce Cyrus's decree allowing the return from exile — a deliberate editorial choice by the chronicler to remind his original audience, already living after the exile, that God's story with his people did not end in destruction, but continued pointing toward restoration and hope.

Fun facts

The book's final sentence, ending abruptly in the middle of a statement about Cyrus's permission for the people to go up to Jerusalem, is intentionally identical to the opening verses of the book of Ezra, suggesting that Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah were designed as a direct continuation of a single grand historical narrative.
The mention that the land 'enjoyed' its sabbaths during the 70 years of exile is a direct reference to the sabbatical year law established in Leviticus 25, suggesting that the very time of exile served, symbolically, to let the land recover the periods of rest the people had neglected to observe over centuries of disobedience.

Verse-by-verse explanation

2 Chronicles 36:1After Josiah’s death in battle, the people of the land choose Jehoahaz, his son, to reign in Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles 36:2Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, but his reign lasts only three months.
2 Chronicles 36:3The king of Egypt removes him from power and imposes on Judah a heavy tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
2 Chronicles 36:4Within a few years, four different kings rise and fall in Judah, moved by foreign powers: Egypt swaps one for another, then Babylon takes control and does the same. It’s the picture of a kingdom that has lost even the ability to choose its own rulers.
2 Chronicles 36:5Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he ruled eleven years in Jerusalem; the Chronicler already states: he did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord.
2 Chronicles 36:6Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, attacks Jehoiakim and binds him with chains to take him to Babylon.
2 Chronicles 36:7Nebuchadnezzar also takes part of the temple articles to Babylon, placing them in his own pagan temple.
2 Chronicles 36:8The rest of Jehoiakim’s story, including his detestable practices, is recorded in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah; his son takes the throne next.
2 Chronicles 36:9The new king was only eight years old when he began to reign, and he ruled only three months and ten days in Jerusalem, also doing what was evil in the eyes of the Lord.
2 Chronicles 36:10In less than a year, Nebuchadnezzar has him brought to Babylon, along with the most valuable articles from the temple, and sets up Zedekiah, his brother, as the new king of Judah.
2 Chronicles 36:11Zedekiah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he ruled eleven years in Jerusalem — the last king of Judah before the final fall.
2 Chronicles 36:12Zedekiah also does what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, and does not even humble himself before the prophet Jeremiah, who spoke direct messages from God.
2 Chronicles 36:13Zedekiah even rebels against Nebuchadnezzar, despite having sworn loyalty to him in God’s name, and becomes more and more stubborn, refusing to turn back to the Lord.
2 Chronicles 36:14Priests and people increasingly multiply their own transgressions, imitating the detestable practices of the surrounding nations and defiling the temple God had sanctified in Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles 36:15The text sums up why the exile finally happened: it wasn’t a sudden punishment — God sent messengers of warning again and again, ‘rising up betimes,’ for generations, before His patience finally ran out.
2 Chronicles 36:16The people mock God’s messengers, despise their words, and ridicule the prophets, until the Lord’s wrath reaches a point with no remedy left.
2 Chronicles 36:17God brings against them the king of the Chaldeans, who kills the young men with the sword inside the temple itself, without mercy on young man or young woman, old man or elder — no one is spared.
2 Chronicles 36:18Nebuchadnezzar carries off to Babylon all the articles of the temple, great and small, along with the treasures of the temple, the king, and the officials.
2 Chronicles 36:19The Babylonians set the temple on fire, tear down the wall of Jerusalem, burn the palaces, and destroy every precious object that remained.
2 Chronicles 36:20Whoever survives the sword is carried captive to Babylon, becoming a servant to the king and his descendants until the rise of the Persian empire.
2 Chronicles 36:21This exile fulfills the word of the Lord announced through Jeremiah: the land would finally enjoy its sabbaths during the seventy years of desolation.
2 Chronicles 36:22In the first year of the reign of Cyrus, king of Persia, to fulfill this same prophecy of Jeremiah, God stirs up the spirit of Cyrus, who issues a decree throughout his whole kingdom.
2 Chronicles 36:23The book ends with the decree of the Persian king Cyrus releasing the people to return and rebuild the temple in Jerusalem — the very return from exile that gave rise to the first readers of Chronicles. It’s a deliberately hopeful ending, closing the book exactly at the point that explains why it was written.

Chapters

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