King Jehoiakim of Judah

35 King Jehoiakim collected a tax from the people of Judah. He collected more from the rich people and less from the poor people. He collected silver and gold from them, in order to pay to the king of Egypt what he commanded them to give.

36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became the king of Judah, and he ruled from Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother was Zebidah, the daughter of Pedaiah from Rumah town. 37 He did many things that Yahweh says are evil, like his ancestors had done.

24 While Jehoiakim was ruling Judah, the army of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded Judah. They defeated the Judean army, and as a result, Jehoiakim was required to pay a lot of tribute/taxes to King Nebuchadnezzar. But after three years, Jehoiakim rebelled. 2 Then Yahweh sent raiders from Babylonia and Syria, and from the Moab and Ammon people-groups, to attack the people of Judah and get rid of them, just as Yahweh had told his prophets to warn the people would happen. 3 These things happened to the people of Judah according to what Yahweh commanded. He had decided to get rid of the people of Judah because of the many sins that King Manasseh had committed. 4 Manasseh had even caused many innocent people in Jerusalem to be killed, and Yahweh would not forgive that.

5 The other things that happened while Jehoiakim was king, and all the things that he did, are written in the scroll called ‘The History of the Kings of Judah’. 6 When Jehoiakim died, his son Jehoiachin became the king.

7 The army of the king of Babylon defeated the army of Egypt, and took control of all the area that the Egyptians formerly controlled, from the brook at the border of Egypt in the south to the Euphrates River in the north. So the army of the king of Egypt did not return to attack Judah again.