Testimonia — Early Christian Bible Commentary

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2 Kings 24 · World English Bible

1In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him.

2The LORD sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, bands of the Syrians, bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the LORD’s word which he spoke by his servants the prophets.

3Surely at the commandment of the LORD this came on Judah, to remove them out of his sight for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did,

4and also for the innocent blood that he shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD would not pardon.

5Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

6So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.

7The king of Egypt didn’t come out of his land any more; for the king of Babylon had taken, from the brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates, all that belonged to the king of Egypt.

8Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.

9He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, according to all that his father had done.

10At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.

11Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city while his servants were besieging it,

12and Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon—he, his mother, his servants, his princes, and his officers; and the king of Babylon captured him in the eighth year of his reign.

13He carried out from there all the treasures of the LORD’s house and the treasures of the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the LORD’s temple, as the LORD had said.

14He carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths. No one remained except the poorest people of the land.

15He carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, with the king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officers, and the chief men of the land. He carried them into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.

16All the men of might, even seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths one thousand, all of them strong and fit for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.

17The king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s father’s brother, king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

18Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

19He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

20For through the anger of the LORD, this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

World English Bible · World English Bible; source eBible.org.

Notes on 2 Kings 24

1894 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain) | Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)

R.C. “But those which had been constructed in the Temple, which were over the mercy-seat of the Ark.” Besides the two Cherubim of solid gold which Moses placed on the two ends of the Mercy-seat (Ex. xxxvii. 7 ff.), Solomon set “within the oracle” two Cherubim of olive wood overlaid with gold, ten feet high with outstretched wings overshadowing the Ark (1 Kings vi. 23–26; viii. 6, 7). All these were either carried off or destroyed, when Nebuchadnezzar took away “all the treasures of the house of the Lord” and “cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon, King of Israel, had made in the Temple of the Lord” (2 Kings xxiv. 13; 1 Esdras i. 54; 2 Esdras x. 22). The Benedictine editor is concerned because Cyril has paid no attention to the strange fiction in 2 Maccabees ii. 4 that Jeremy the Prophet “commanded the Tabernacle and the Ark to go with him” to Mount Horeb, and there hid them, with the Altar of Incense, in a hollow cave, to remain “unknown until the time that God gathers His people again together.”

Editorial footnote · S. Cyril, Chapter uncertain; original source section: Lecture 2, editorial note cite_note-63 · Original source

Date uncertain | Cyril of Jerusalem (historical attribution)

17. What thinkest thou of Nabuchodonosor? Hast thou not heard out of the Scriptures that he was bloodthirsty, fierce, lion-like in disposition? Hast thou not heard that he brought out the bones of the kings from their graves into the light? Hast thou not heard that he carried the people away captive? Hast thou not heard that he put out the eyes of the king, after he had already seen his children slain? Hast thou not heard that he brake in pieces the Cherubim? I do not mean the invisible beings;—away with such a thought, O man,—but the sculptured images, and the mercy-seat, in the midst of which God spake with His voice. The veil of the Sanctuary he trampled under foot: the altar of incense he took and carried away to an idol-temple: all the offerings he took away: the Temple he burned from the foundations. How great punishments did he deserve, for slaying kings, for setting fire to the Sanctuary, for taking the people captive, for setting the sacred vessels in the house of idols? Did he not deserve ten thousand deaths?

Source passage · edition’s verse reference · S. Cyril, Chapter uncertain; original source section: Lecture 2, source paragraph 23 · Original source