2 Chronicles 36:12

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2 Chronicles 36:10–14 · Berean Standard Bible

10 In the spring, King Nebuchadnezzar summoned Jehoiachin and brought him to Babylon, along with the articles of value from the house of the LORD. And he made Jehoiachin’s relative Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.

11 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years.

12 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke for the LORD.

13 He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. But Zedekiah stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the LORD, the God of Israel.

14 Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people multiplied their unfaithful deeds, following all the abominations of the nations, and they defiled the house of the LORD, which He had consecrated in Jerusalem.

Hebrew words

Data created by STEPBible.org based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

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Cross-references

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.

2 Chronicles 32:26

Then Hezekiah humbled the pride of his heart—he and the people of Jerusalem—so that the wrath of the LORD did not come upon them during the days of Hezekiah.

2 Chronicles 33:12

And in his distress, Manasseh sought the favor of the LORD his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his fathers.

2 Chronicles 33:19

His prayer and how God received his plea, as well as all his sin and unfaithfulness, and the sites where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and idols before he humbled himself, they are indeed written in the Records of the Seers.

2 Chronicles 33:23

but he did not humble himself before the LORD as his father Manasseh had done; instead, Amon increased his guilt.

Exodus 10:3

So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and told him, “This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.

Daniel 5:22

But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this.

Daniel 5:23

Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. The vessels from His house were brought to you, and as you drank wine from them with your nobles, wives, and concubines, you praised your gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you have failed to glorify the God who holds in His hand your very breath and all your ways.

James 4:10

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.

1 Peter 5:6

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, so that in due time He may exalt you.

Jeremiah 21:1

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur son of Malchijah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah. They said,

Jeremiah 21:2

“Please inquire of the LORD on our behalf, since Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is waging war against us. Perhaps the LORD will perform for us something like all His past wonders, so that Nebuchadnezzar will withdraw from us.”

Jeremiah 21:3

But Jeremiah answered, “You are to tell Zedekiah that

Jeremiah 21:4

this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will turn against you the weapons of war in your hands, with which you are fighting the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who besiege you outside the wall, and I will assemble their forces in the center of this city.

Jeremiah 21:5

And I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm, with anger, fury, and great wrath.

Jeremiah 21:6

I will strike down the residents of this city, both man and beast. They will die in a terrible plague.’

Jeremiah 21:7

‘After that,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will hand over Zedekiah king of Judah, his officers, and the people in this city who survive the plague and sword and famine, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and to their enemies who seek their lives. He will put them to the sword; he will not spare them or show pity or compassion.’

Jeremiah 21:8

Furthermore, you are to tell this people that this is what the LORD says: ‘Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.

Jeremiah 21:9

Whoever stays in this city will die by sword and famine and plague, but whoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who besiege you will live; he will retain his life like a spoil of war.

Jeremiah 21:10

For I have set My face against this city to bring disaster and not good, declares the LORD. It will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, who will destroy it with fire.’

Jeremiah 27:12

And to Zedekiah king of Judah I spoke the same message: “Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon; serve him and his people, and live!

Jeremiah 27:13

Why should you and your people die by sword and famine and plague, as the LORD has decreed against any nation that does not serve the king of Babylon?

Jeremiah 27:14

Do not listen to the words of the prophets who say, ‘You must not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they are prophesying to you a lie.

Jeremiah 27:15

For I have not sent them, declares the LORD, and yet they are prophesying falsely in My name; therefore I will banish you, and you will perish—you and the prophets who prophesy to you.”

Jeremiah 27:16

Then I said to the priests and to all this people, “This is what the LORD says: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, ‘Look, very soon now the articles from the house of the LORD will be brought back from Babylon.’ They are prophesying to you a lie.

Jeremiah 27:17

Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon and live! Why should this city become a ruin?

Jeremiah 27:18

If they are indeed prophets and the word of the LORD is with them, let them now plead with the LORD of Hosts that the articles remaining in the house of the LORD, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem, not be taken to Babylon.

Jeremiah 27:19

For this is what the LORD of Hosts says about the pillars, the sea, the bases, and the rest of the articles that remain in this city,

Jeremiah 27:20

which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he carried Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 27:21

Yes, this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says about the articles that remain in the house of the LORD, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem:

Jeremiah 27:22

‘They will be carried to Babylon and will remain there until the day I attend to them again,’ declares the LORD. ‘Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.’”

Jeremiah 28:1

In the fifth month of that same year, the fourth year, near the beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah, the prophet Hananiah son of Azzur, who was from Gibeon, said to me in the house of the LORD in the presence of the priests and all the people:

Jeremiah 28:2

“This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.

Jeremiah 28:3

Within two years I will restore to this place all the articles of the house of the LORD that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon removed from here and carried to Babylon.

Jeremiah 28:4

And I will restore to this place Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, along with all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon,’ declares the LORD, ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’”

Jeremiah 28:5

Then the prophet Jeremiah replied to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the LORD.

Jeremiah 28:6

“Amen!” Jeremiah said. “May the LORD do so! May the LORD fulfill the words you have prophesied, and may He restore the articles of His house and all the exiles back to this place from Babylon.

Jeremiah 28:7

Nevertheless, listen now to this message I am speaking in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people.

Jeremiah 28:8

The prophets of old who preceded you and me prophesied war, disaster, and plague against many lands and great kingdoms.

Jeremiah 28:9

As for the prophet who prophesies peace, only if the word of the prophet comes true will the prophet be recognized as one the LORD has truly sent.”

Jeremiah 28:10

Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke off the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke it.

Jeremiah 28:11

And in the presence of all the people Hananiah proclaimed, “This is what the LORD says: ‘In this way, within two years I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon off the neck of all the nations.’” At this, Jeremiah the prophet went on his way.

Jeremiah 28:12

But shortly after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke off his neck, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 28:13

“Go and tell Hananiah that this is what the LORD says: ‘You have broken a yoke of wood, but in its place you have fashioned a yoke of iron.’

Jeremiah 28:14

For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations to make them serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they will serve him. I have even given him control of the beasts of the field.’”

Jeremiah 28:15

Then the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah! The LORD did not send you, but you have persuaded this people to trust in a lie.

Jeremiah 28:16

Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. You will die this year because you have preached rebellion against the LORD.’”

Jeremiah 28:17

And in the seventh month of that very year, the prophet Hananiah died.

Jeremiah 34:2

The LORD, the God of Israel, told Jeremiah to go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him that this is what the LORD says: “Behold, I am about to deliver this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it down.

Jeremiah 34:3

And you yourself will not escape his grasp, but will surely be captured and delivered into his hand. You will see the king of Babylon eye to eye and speak with him face to face; and you will go to Babylon.

Jeremiah 34:4

Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah. This is what the LORD says concerning you: You will not die by the sword;

Jeremiah 34:5

you will die in peace. As spices were burned for your fathers, the former kings who preceded you, so people will burn spices for you and lament, ‘Alas, O master!’ For I Myself have spoken this word, declares the LORD.”

Jeremiah 34:6

In Jerusalem, then, Jeremiah the prophet relayed all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah

Jeremiah 34:7

as the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and the remaining cities of Judah—against Lachish and Azekah. For these were the only fortified cities remaining in Judah.

Jeremiah 34:8

After King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim liberty, the word came to Jeremiah from the LORD

Jeremiah 34:9

that each man should free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female, and no one should hold his fellow Jew in bondage.

Jeremiah 34:10

So all the officials and all the people who entered into this covenant agreed that they would free their menservants and maidservants and no longer hold them in bondage. They obeyed and released them,

Jeremiah 34:11

but later they changed their minds and took back the menservants and maidservants they had freed, and they forced them to become slaves again.

Jeremiah 34:12

Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

Jeremiah 34:13

“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your forefathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying:

Jeremiah 34:14

Every seventh year, each of you must free his Hebrew brother who has sold himself to you. He may serve you six years, but then you must let him go free. But your fathers did not listen or incline their ear.

Jeremiah 34:15

Recently you repented and did what pleased Me; each of you proclaimed freedom for his neighbor. You made a covenant before Me in the house that bears My Name.

Jeremiah 34:16

But now you have changed your minds and profaned My name. Each of you has taken back the menservants and maidservants whom you had set at liberty to go wherever they wanted, and you have again forced them to be your slaves.

Jeremiah 34:17

Therefore this is what the LORD says: You have not obeyed Me; you have not proclaimed freedom, each man for his brother and for his neighbor. So now I proclaim freedom for you, declares the LORD—freedom to fall by sword, by plague, and by famine! I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

Jeremiah 34:18

And those who have transgressed My covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before Me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two in order to pass between its pieces.

Jeremiah 34:19

The officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf,

Jeremiah 34:20

I will deliver into the hands of their enemies who seek their lives. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.

Jeremiah 34:21

And I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials into the hands of their enemies who seek their lives, to the army of the king of Babylon that had withdrawn from you.

Jeremiah 34:22

Behold, I am going to give the command, declares the LORD, and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, capture it, and burn it down. And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”

Jeremiah 37:2

But he and his officers and the people of the land refused to obey the words that the LORD had spoken through Jeremiah the prophet.

Jeremiah 37:3

Yet King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah, to Jeremiah the prophet with the message, “Please pray to the LORD our God for us!”

Jeremiah 37:4

Now Jeremiah was free to come and go among the people, for they had not yet put him in prison.

Jeremiah 37:5

Pharaoh’s army had left Egypt, and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report, they withdrew from Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 37:6

Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet:

Jeremiah 37:7

“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says that you are to tell the king of Judah, who sent you to Me: Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which has marched out to help you, will go back to its own land of Egypt.

Jeremiah 37:8

Then the Chaldeans will return and fight against this city. They will capture it and burn it down.

Jeremiah 37:9

This is what the LORD says: Do not deceive yourselves by saying, ‘The Chaldeans will go away for good,’ for they will not!

Jeremiah 37:10

Indeed, if you were to strike down the entire army of the Chaldeans that is fighting against you, and only wounded men remained in their tents, they would still get up and burn this city down.”

Jeremiah 37:11

When the Chaldean army withdrew from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh’s army,

Jeremiah 37:12

Jeremiah started to leave Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to claim his portion there among the people.

Jeremiah 37:13

But when he reached the Gate of Benjamin, the captain of the guard, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, seized him and said, “You are deserting to the Chaldeans!”

Jeremiah 37:14

“That is a lie,” Jeremiah replied. “I am not deserting to the Chaldeans!” But Irijah would not listen to him; instead, he arrested Jeremiah and took him to the officials.

Jeremiah 37:15

The officials were angry with Jeremiah, and they beat him and placed him in jail in the house of Jonathan the scribe, for it had been made into a prison.

Jeremiah 37:16

So Jeremiah went into a cell in the dungeon and remained there a long time.

Jeremiah 37:17

Later, King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah and received him in his palace, where he asked him privately, “Is there a word from the LORD?” “There is,” Jeremiah replied. “You will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.”

Jeremiah 37:18

Then Jeremiah asked King Zedekiah, “How have I sinned against you or your servants or these people, that you have put me in prison?

Jeremiah 37:19

Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, claiming, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you or this land’?

Jeremiah 37:20

But now please listen, O my lord the king. May my petition come before you. Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, or I will die there.”

Jeremiah 37:21

So King Zedekiah gave orders for Jeremiah to be placed in the courtyard of the guard and given a loaf of bread daily from the street of the bakers, until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

Jeremiah 38:14

Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and received him at the third entrance to the house of the LORD. “I am going to ask you something,” said the king to Jeremiah. “Do not hide anything from me.”

Jeremiah 38:15

“If I tell you,” Jeremiah replied, “you will surely put me to death. And even if I give you advice, you will not listen to me.”

Jeremiah 38:16

But King Zedekiah swore secretly to Jeremiah, “As surely as the LORD lives, who has given us this life, I will not kill you, nor will I deliver you into the hands of these men who are seeking your life.”

Jeremiah 38:17

Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the LORD God of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you indeed surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then you will live, this city will not be burned down, and you and your household will survive.

Jeremiah 38:18

But if you do not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then this city will be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans. They will burn it down, and you yourself will not escape their grasp.’”

Jeremiah 38:19

But King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have deserted to the Chaldeans, for the Chaldeans may deliver me into their hands to abuse me.”

Jeremiah 38:20

“They will not hand you over,” Jeremiah replied. “Obey the voice of the LORD in what I am telling you, that it may go well with you and you may live.

Jeremiah 38:21

But if you refuse to surrender, this is the word that the LORD has shown me:

Jeremiah 38:22

All the women who remain in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon, and those women will say: ‘They misled you and overcame you— those trusted friends of yours. Your feet sank into the mire, and they deserted you.’

Jeremiah 38:23

All your wives and children will be brought out to the Chaldeans. And you yourself will not escape their grasp, for you will be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned down.”

Jeremiah 38:24

Then Zedekiah warned Jeremiah, “Do not let anyone know about this conversation, or you will die.

Jeremiah 38:25

If the officials hear that I have spoken with you, and they come and demand of you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what he said to you; do not hide it from us, or we will kill you,’

Jeremiah 38:26

then tell them, ‘I was presenting to the king my petition that he not return me to the house of Jonathan to die there.’”

Jeremiah 38:27

When all the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him, he relayed to them the exact words the king had commanded him to say. So they said no more to him, for no one had overheard the conversation.

Jeremiah 38:28

And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured.

2 Chronicles 35:22

Josiah, however, did not turn away from him; instead, in order to engage him in battle, he disguised himself. He did not listen to Neco’s words from the mouth of God, but went to fight him on the Plain of Megiddo.