References (37)
And Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim, the son of Josiah, king in place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim). And he took Jehoahaz away and brought him to Egypt, where he died.
[Eljakim means "God (El) rises up" and Jehoiakim means "The Lord (Yahweh) rises up". There is no significant difference in the meaning of the names. It was not unusual for the power that conquered another country to also give people new names, see ; ; ; ; . Apparently, Necho does the same thing here.]
And Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim) gave silver and gold to Pharaoh. But he taxed the land to give silver according to Pharaoh's command. He demanded the silver and gold from the people of the land, from every man according to his ability to pay, to give it to Pharaoh Necho.
Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim) was 25 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's [queen mother's] name was Zevoda, the daughter of Pedaja, from Rom.
In his days, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up, and Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim) became his servant for three years, then he turned and rebelled against him.
What else is there about the deeds of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, it is written in the chronicles of the kings of Judah.
And Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.
And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord (Yahweh), following all that Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim) had done.
The sons of Josiah were
Jochanan, the firstborn,
Jojakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim), the second,
Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho), the third,
Shallom, the fourth.
The sons of Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqims) were his son Jeconiah (Hebr. Jechonjah) and his son Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho).
And the king of Egypt made his brother Eliakim king over Judah and Jerusalem and changed his name to Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim). But Necho took his brother Jehoahaz with him and brought him to Egypt.
[Jehoiakim reigned over Judah for 11 years (609-597 BC).]
Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim) was 25 years old when he became king, and he reigned for 11 years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord (Yahweh), his God (Elohim).
The rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and the abominable things that he did, and what was found in him, are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. His son Jehoiachin (Hebr. Jehojachin) became king after him.
and further [also] in the days of Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim), son of Josiah, king of Judah [609-598 BC] until the end of the 11th year [586 BC] when Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho), son of Josiah, was king of Judah, when Jerusalem was carried away [into exile to Babylon] in the 5th month [the Jewish month called av (July/August) in 586 BC, see ; ].
[The last five kings and their reigns in Judah (the southern kingdom) were:
Josiah (Hebr. Joshijaho) (640-609 BC) – the last good king, see ;
Jehoahaz (3 months 609 BC) –
Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim) (609-598 BC) – ;
Jehoiachin (Hebr. Jehojachin) (3 months 598-597 BC) – ;
Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho) (597-586 BC) – ;
The entire period of Jeremiah's ministry is 40 years and 6 months – 18 years under Josiah and two periods of 11 years each for Jehoiakim and Zedekiah. The summary Bible text does not mention the two short periods of three months when Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin reigned.]
Therefore, thus says the Lord (Yahweh) concerning Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim), son of Josiah, king of Judah:
They shall not mourn for him:
"Alas, my brother!" Or, 'Woe to my sister!'
They shall not mourn for him:
'Woe to the lord!' Or, 'Woe to his glory!'
I live, declares (says, proclaims) the Lord (Yahweh). Although Coniah [short form of Jehoiachin (Hebr. Jehojachin), 19th ruler of the Southern Kingdom, see ], the son of Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim), was the signet ring on my right hand, I will tear him away from there,
The Lord (Yahweh) showed me, and behold, two baskets of figs stood before the temple of the Lord (Yahweh) after Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had carried away Jeconiah (Hebr. Jechonjaho) [here the spelling varies from the usual Jechonjah, see ], the son of Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqims), king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the craftsmen and smiths from Jerusalem, and had taken them to Babylon.
[The events in this chapter precede those in chapter 24.]
The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the days of Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim), Josiah (Hebr. Joshijahos), king of Judah, in the fourth year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, which was the first year [corresponding to 605 BC],
[The message comes chronologically before chapter 25. Between chapters 26-45, the text is written in the third person. Jeremiah's scribe Baruch is probably the author, see , , ; ]
At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim), son of Josiah (Hebr. Joshijahos), king of Judah [609/608 BC], this word came from the Lord (Yahweh), saying:
When King Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim) and all his mighty men and all the princes heard his words, the king sought to put him to death, but Orijaho heard it and was afraid, and fled and went to Egypt.
But King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt, Elnathan, the son of Achbor, and several men with him, to Egypt. [The last repetition of "to Egypt" is not included in the Greek translation, but the Hebr. emphasizes Egypt (Hebr. Mitsrajim), whose literal meaning is "twice penetrated."]
And they brought Orijaho from Egypt and brought him to King Jehoiakim, who struck him with the sword and threw his dead body into the graves of the sons of the people.
At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim), son of Josiah (Hebr. Joshijahos), king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord (Yahweh), saying:
which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, did not take when he carried away captive Jeconiah (Hebr. Jechonjaho), son of Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqims), king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem.
And I will bring back to this place Jeconiah (Hebr. Jechonjah), the son of Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim), king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah who went to Babylon, declares (says, proclaims) the Lord (Yahweh), for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord (Yahweh) when Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim), son of Josiah (Hebr. Joshijahos), was king of Judah [he reigned 609-597 BC], he said:
And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim), son of Josiah (Hebr. Joshijahos), king of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord (Yahweh), saying:
And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim), son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month [Kislev – Nov/Dec], that they proclaimed a fast before the Lord (Yahweh), all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem.
"Take another scroll and write in it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim, king of Judah, has burned.
And concerning Jehoiakim, king of Judah, you shall say: Thus says the Lord (Yahweh): You have burned this scroll and said, 'Why have you written in it and said, 'The king of Babylon will surely come and destroy this land, and will cause man and beast to cease from it'?
Therefore, this is what the Lord (Yahweh) says about Jehoiakim, king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on David's throne, and his dead body will be thrown out to the heat of the day and the cold of the night.
And Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch, the son of Neriah, the scribe, who wrote in it from Jeremiah's mouth all the words of the book that Jehoiakim, king of Judah, had burned in the fire, and many similar words were added to them.
And Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho), the son of Josiah (Hebr. Joshijahos), reigned as king in place of Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqims), whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, made king in the land of Judah.
The word that the prophet Jeremiah spoke to Baruch, the son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a book at Jeremiah's dictation, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim), the son of Josiah (Hebr. Joshijahos), king of Judah, saying:
To Egypt. Concerning Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, whose army is by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah (Hebr. Joshijahos), king of Judah.
And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord (Yahweh), following all that Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqim) [his brother who reigned from 609 to 597 BC] had done.
During the third year of King Jehoiakim's reign [605 BC] in Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came and besieged Jerusalem [the capital of Judah].
The Lord (Adonai, focus on God's greatness and power) gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his power.
[It was not the strength of the Babylonians that brought them victory, it was the Lord who allowed them to take the land because of the disobedience and idolatry of God's people, see ; . Jehoiakim was an evil king in the eyes of the Lord, . According to rabbinical literature, he lived in incestuous relationships with his mother, daughter-in-law, and stepmother, and he had a habit of murdering men and raping their women. He reigned for eleven years, from 608 to 597 BC. It was a turbulent political period in which Judah and Jerusalem were geographically located between the great powers of the time. It was the Egyptians and Pharaoh Necho who appointed Jehoiakim as their vassal king after capturing his younger brother, who had only been king for three months. When the Babylonians attacked Jerusalem in 605 BC, three years into Jehoiakim's reign, Jehoiakim made a pact with them, see . To ensure Jehoiakim's loyalty, Nebuchadnezzar takes some young men of royal descent as hostages. This is the first deportation to Babylon that affects Daniel and his friends. The temple was partially plundered, see .]
Nebuchadnezzar also took some of the vessels to Shinar [Babylon, the land between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers]. There he placed them in the treasury of his gods [Marduk and Nebo].
[The Babylonian Empire was the new superpower after the Assyrians. In the city of Babylon, Nabopolassar revolts against the Assyrians and proclaims himself king of Babylon in 626 BC. He and his son Nebuchadnezzar together form the Neo-Babylonian Empire, which has its heyday over the next 100 years. Historical documents, the Babylonian chronicles, confirm that in the spring of 605 BC, Nebuchadnezzar fought at the Egyptian outpost of Carchemish in northern Syria and later in the late spring swept down on Jerusalem. In the first raid, the temple was plundered and people who could pose a threat, including Daniel and his friends, were taken prisoner. Nebuchadnezzar continued south towards Egypt, but when he received news of his father Nabopolassar's death on August 15, he hurried home. He took the route through the desert and arrived before Daniel and the prisoners, who took the usual longer route along the Euphrates River. A clay tablet shows that Nebuchadnezzar became king on September 7. Nebuchadnezzar continues his campaigns. Seven years later, in 597 BC, Jerusalem is conquered. It is during this second deportation that the prophet Ezekiel is taken away. In 586 BC, the temple is destroyed and the third wave of prisoners is taken away to Babylonia.]
