8 Yehoyakin was eighteen when he became king, but he reigned from Yerushalem (Jerusalem) for only three months. 9 He did what Yahweh had said was evil just like his father had done.

10 At that time, the Babylonian king Nevukadnetsar (Nebuchadnezzar) sent his army to besiege Yerushalem, 11 and Nevukadnetsar himself travelled there to observe the operation. 12 Yehudah’s (Judah’s) King Yehoyakin went out to surrender to the Babylonian king, along with his mother, his servants, his captains, and his officials. So the Babylonian king took him captive in the eighth year of his reign. 13 Then all the valuables were brought out of Yahweh’s temple and the palace. All the gold furnishings that had been made for the temple by King Shelomoh (Solomon) were cut into pieces. 14 Then all the army leaders and officials, and all the craftsmen and blacksmiths from Yerushalem (some ten thousand people) were taken into exile, leaving only the poorer people behind.

15 King Yehoyakin was exiled from Yerushalem to Bavel (Babylon), along with his mother and wives, his officials, 16 seven thousand top soldiers, and a thousand skilled craftsmen and blacksmiths—leaving no one behind to fight or make weapons.

17 Then the Babylonian king appointed Yehoyakin’s uncle Matanyah as king in his place and he changed his name to Tsidkiyah (Zedekiah).