refore thus saith the
Lord: 'Because ye say this word, The burden of the Lord, and I have
sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of the Lord;
therefore, behold, I will utterly forget you, and I will cast you off,
and the city that I gave unto you and to your fathers, away from my
presence: and I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a
perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten."

(This prophecy was already hastening on to fulfillment. The power of
Egypt had been broken by Nebuchadnezzar at the battle of Carchemish,
and now the great king of Babylon came sweeping down upon Judah to put
an end to its existence as a nation. Tradition says that the evil
king, Jehoiakim, was slain during a sally from the walls, and that his
dead body lay there dishonored and unburied.)

Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he
reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Zebidah
the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. And he did that which was evil in
the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. In
his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became
his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him. And
the Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, and bands of the
{345} Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of
Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the
word of the Lord, which he spoke by the hand of his servants the
prophets. Surely at the commandment of the Lord came this upon Judah,
to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according
to all that he did; and also for the innocent blood that he shed; for
he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood: and the Lord would not
pardon. So Jehoiakim died.

{346}

JEHOIACHIN.

(Jehoiachin had hardly begun his reign before the city of Jerusalem
yielded to the assaults of the armies of Babylon, and the king, with
the flower of the nation, men, women, and children, artisans and
soldiers, were carried away into captivity. Tradition says that a
later king of Babylon, Evil-Merodach, released Jehoiachin, then
fifty-five years old, and treated him with distinguished respect.)

Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign; and he
reigned in Jerusalem three months. And he did that which was evil in
the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father had done. And
the army of Nebuchadnezzar ki