156 passages · Kingdom
If Israel still refuses, God warns of fury, ruined cities and sanctuaries, and scattering among the nations. The land will then enjoy the Sabbaths it missed, and the survivors will live in fear.
If the exiles confess their sins and humble themselves, God promises to remember his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and not to destroy them. The chapter closes by noting these are the laws given at Sinai.
Moses warns that if Israel later makes idols, they will be scattered among the nations. If they seek God with all their heart from there, they will find Him, because He is merciful and will not forget His covenant.
Israel and its king will be driven to a foreign land and worship other gods. Crops will be eaten by locusts and worms, children will go into captivity, and foreigners will rise above Israel.
The LORD will scatter Israel among the nations, where they will find no rest and live in constant dread. The chapter ends with a return to Egypt in ships to be sold as slaves.
Moses foresees future generations seeing the devastated land, like Sodom and Gomorrah. When nations ask why, the answer will be that Israel abandoned the covenant and served other gods.
Moses says that when Israel, scattered after curses, returns to the LORD with all their heart, he will bring them back, have compassion, and prosper them. God will circumcise their hearts so they love him.
David hears that Israel follows Absalom and leaves the city with his household, leaving ten concubines behind. He urges Ittai the Gittite to turn back, but Ittai vows to stay with the king.
Solomon asks God to hear foreigners who pray toward the temple, to uphold Israel in battle, and to forgive and restore them if they are exiled and repent.
Hoshea becomes king of Israel and pays tribute to Assyria, but a plot with Egypt leads to his arrest. Assyria besieges Samaria for three years and deports the Israelites.
The narrator explains that Israel fell because it worshiped other gods, copied surrounding nations, and rejected repeated prophetic warnings. As a result the LORD removed them from his presence, leaving only Judah.
Judah also fails to keep the commands and copies Israel's ways, and the LORD rejects all of Israel's descendants. The cause is traced to Jeroboam's sin, and Israel is exiled to Assyria as the prophets said.
Assyria finishes its siege of Samaria and exiles Israel because of its disobedience. Years later Sennacherib captures Judah's fortified cities, and Hezekiah pays heavy tribute, stripping the temple's silver and gold.
The king of Babylon sends envoys, and Hezekiah shows them all his treasures. Isaiah tells him that everything will be carried off to Babylon and some descendants taken away, and Hezekiah accepts this, thinking of peace in his own time.
Through the prophets, the LORD declares that Jerusalem and Judah will suffer calamity for Manasseh's sins. Jerusalem will be wiped out like a bowl turned upside down, and Manasseh also fills the city with innocent blood.
Nebuchadnezzar invades and Jehoiakim serves him three years before rebelling. The LORD sends raiders against Judah, and the writer ties this to Manasseh's sins and his shedding of innocent blood.
Jehoiachin becomes king at eighteen and does evil. Babylon besieges Jerusalem, and after three months he surrenders with his mother and officials and is taken captive.
Nebuchadnezzar strips the temple and palace treasures and deports thousands of leaders and skilled workers, leaving only the poorest. He makes Jehoiachin's uncle Mattaniah king and renames him Zedekiah.
Zedekiah becomes king at twenty-one and does evil, as Jehoiakim had. The writer says all this came from the LORD's anger, and Zedekiah then rebels against Babylon.
Babylon besieges Jerusalem for about two years until famine is severe and the walls are breached. Zedekiah flees but is captured, his sons are killed before him, and he is blinded and taken to Babylon.
Nebuzaradan burns the temple, the palace and the city's houses, and the army tears down the walls. Most of the remaining people are exiled, with only some poor left to tend the land.
The Babylonians break up the bronze pillars, stands and Sea and take the temple's bronze, gold and silver articles. The writer notes the great weight of bronze and describes the pillars.
Nebuzaradan takes the chief priest, other priests, officials and sixty men to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where they are put to death. The writer concludes that Judah was taken into exile from its land.
Babylon appoints Gedaliah as governor, and he urges the remaining leaders to serve Babylon. Ishmael kills him, and the people and army commanders flee to Egypt in fear.
In the thirty-seventh year of his exile, Jehoiachin is freed by Evil-merodach. He is treated kindly, given a place of honor, and provided for at the king's table for the rest of his life.
The line of kings is traced father to son from Solomon's son Rehoboam down to Josiah. His sons are listed, ending with the last kings before the exile.
The descendants of Jeconiah, the exiled king, are listed, including Shealtiel and Pedaiah's son Zerubbabel. The record continues several generations beyond, bringing David's family line into the chronicler's own period.
The half-tribe of Manasseh is described, with its famous family heads. They were unfaithful to God and worshipped the gods of the land, so God brought the Assyrians to take the eastern tribes into exile.
The sons of Levi are named, and the priestly line is traced from Aaron through Eleazar and Phinehas down to Jehozadak, who went into exile under Nebuchadnezzar. Moses and Miriam are noted as Amram's children.
The chapter says all Israel was recorded in the genealogies, while Judah was exiled to Babylon for unfaithfulness. It lists the first settlers who returned to Jerusalem from Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim and Manasseh.