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2 Kings

About this book
Chapter 24

1 During Jehoiakim’s reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked.⁠ Jehoiakim was his subject for three years, but then he rebelled against him.⁠ 2 The Lord sent against him Babylonian, Syrian, Moabite, and Ammonite raiding bands; he sent them to destroy Judah, just as in the Lord’s message that he had announced through his servants the prophets. 3 Just as the Lord had announced, he rejected Judah because of all the sins that Manasseh had committed. 4 Because he killed innocent people and stained Jerusalem with their blood, the Lord was unwilling to forgive them. 5 The rest of the events of Jehoiakim’s reign and all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah. 6 He passed away and his son Jehoiachin replaced him as king. 7 The king of Egypt did not march out from his land again, for the king of Babylon conquered all the territory that the king of Egypt had formerly controlled between the Stream of Egypt and the Euphrates River.⁠ 8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan, from Jerusalem.⁠ 9 He did evil in the sight of the Lord as his ancestors had done. 10 At that time the generals of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon marched to Jerusalem and besieged the city. 11 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to the city while his generals were besieging it. 12 King Jehoiachin of Judah, along with his mother, his servants, his officials, and his eunuchs surrendered to the king of Babylon. The king of Babylon, in the eighth year of his reign, took Jehoiachin prisoner. 13 Nebuchadnezzar took from there all the riches in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace. He removed all the gold items that King Solomon of Israel had made for the Lord’s temple, just as the Lord had warned. 14 He deported all the residents of Jerusalem, including all the officials and all the soldiers (10,000 people in all). This included all the craftsmen and those who worked with metal. No one was left except for the poorest among the people of the land. 15 He deported Jehoiachin from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with the king’s mother and wives, his eunuchs, and the high-ranking officials of the land. 16 The king of Babylon deported to Babylon all the soldiers (there were 7,000), as well as 1,000 craftsmen and metal workers. This included all the best warriors. 17 The king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in Jehoiachin’s place. He renamed him Zedekiah. 18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled for eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah. 19 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, as Jehoiakim had done. 20 What follows is a record of what happened to Jerusalem and Judah because of the Lord’s anger; he finally threw them out of his presence. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

Texts in conversation

Compare Genesis 15:18 and 2 Kings 24:7

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

2 Kings 24 says that Egypt no longer controlled land up to the Euphrates, highlighting Babylon’s rise to power. Genesis 15 also names the Euphrates as Israel’s border, which reflects later political realities rather than an early historical setting.

Passages

Genesis 15:18

Hebrew Bible
16 In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its limit.” 17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking firepot with a flaming torch passed between the animal parts. 18 That day the Lord made a covenant with Abram: “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River— 19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

2 Kings 24:7

Hebrew Bible
5 The rest of the events of Jehoiakim’s reign and all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah. 6 He passed away and his son Jehoiachin replaced him as king. 7 The king of Egypt did not march out from his land again, for the king of Babylon conquered all the territory that the king of Egypt had formerly controlled between the Stream of Egypt and the Euphrates River. 8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan, from Jerusalem. 9 He did evil in the sight of the Lord as his ancestors had done.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 2 Kings

References

"... Deuteronomy 1:6-8 ... Moses’ retrospective does not start from the Exodus but with a reference to Mount Horeb. Thus, it alludes to all the events which this name implies (compare 5:2; 9:8). The land which Israel is to conquer is called ‘the hill country of the Amorites’ by a designation based on the name for the area in Neo-Assyrian inscriptions. An alternative general designation is ‘the land of the Canaanites’, and elsewhere in Deuteronomy a list of peoples is used for describing the population of the land (compare 7:1; 20:17). Whereas chapters 2–3 carefully define Israel’s territorial claims east of the Jordan (compare 3:8), the vision of Israel’s land as extending to the north as far as the river Euphrates (verse 7; compare Joshua 1:4) is alien to the concept of a conquest as well as to Israel’s historical traditions. It may be either an echo of imperial rhetoric or a reflection of political experience in the late seventh century when victory in a battle at Carchemish on the Euphrates in 605 BCE made the Neo-Babylonians the political overlords of Palestine (compare Jeremiah 46:2; 2 Kings 24:7). Verse 8 emphasizes that Israel’s hope for the land is founded on an oath which YHWH swore to her ancestors, compare Genesis 15:18. The verse forms an inclusio with 30:20 ..."
John Barton and John Muddiman, Oxford Bible Commentary: The Pentateuch (Oxford University Press, 2010), 191.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Genesis 15:18 and 2 Kings 24:7

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