2Ki 24, Dan 1 | ESV | STEP | In his days , Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up , and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years . Then he turned and rebelled against him.

1 ^aIn his days, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him. 2 And the Lord sent against him bands of the ^bChaldeans and ^cbands of the Syrians and bands of the Moabites and bands of the Ammonites, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, ^daccording to the word of the Lord that he spoke by his servants the prophets. 3 Surely this came upon Judah at the command of the Lord, to remove them out of his sight, ^efor the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, 4 and also ^ffor the innocent blood that he had shed. For he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord would not pardon. 5 ^gNow the rest of the deeds of Jehoiakim and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 6 So Jehoiakim ^hslept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place. 7 ⁱAnd the king of Egypt did not come again out of his land, ^jfor the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt ^kfrom the Brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates.

Jehoiachin Reigns in Judah

8 ^lJehoiachin was ^meighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. 9 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, ⁿaccording to all that his father had done.

Jerusalem Captured

10 At that time the servants of ^oNebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. 11 And ^pNebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city while his servants were besieging it, 12 ^qand Jehoiachin the king of Judah gave himself up to the king of Babylon, himself and his mother and his servants and his officials and his palace officials. ^rThe king of Babylon took him prisoner ^sin the eighth year of his reign 13 and carried off all the treasures of the house of the Lord ^tand the treasures of the king’s house, ^uand cut in pieces all the vessels of gold in the temple of the Lord, ^vwhich Solomon king of Israel had made, ^was the Lord had foretold. 14 ^xHe carried away all Jerusalem and all the officials and all the mighty men of valor, ^y10,000 captives, ^zand all the craftsmen and the smiths. None remained, ^aaexcept the poorest people of the land. 15 ^abAnd he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon. The king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officials, and the chief men of the land he took into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. 16 And the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon all the men of valor, ^ac7,000, and the craftsmen and the metal workers, 1,000, all of them strong and fit for war. 17 ^adAnd the king of Babylon ^aemade Mattaniah, ^afJehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place, ^agand changed his name to Zedekiah.

Zedekiah Reigns in Judah

18 ^ahZedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was ^aiHamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 19 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, ^ajaccording to all that Jehoiakim had done. 20 For because of the anger of the Lord it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast them out from his presence.

^akAnd Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

Daniel 1

Daniel Taken to Babylon

1 In the third year of ^althe reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of ^amthe vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to ^anthe land of Shinar, to the house of his god, ^aoand placed the vessels in the treasury of his god. 3 Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, ^aphis chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family ^{▼▼Hebrew of the seed of the kingdom} and of ^arthe nobility, 4 youths without ^asblemish, of good appearance and ^atskillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to ^auteach them the literature and language of the ^avChaldeans. 5 The king assigned them a daily portion of ^awthe food that the king ate, and of ^axthe wine that he drank. They were to be educated for ^aythree years, and at the end of that time they were to ^azstand before the king. 6 Among these were ^baDaniel, ^bbHananiah, ^bcMishael, and ^bdAzariah of the tribe of Judah. 7 And ^bethe chief of the eunuchs ^bfgave them names: ^bgDaniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.

Daniel’s Faithfulness

8 But Daniel ^bhresolved that he would not ^bidefile himself with ^bjthe king’s food, or with ^bkthe wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to ^bldefile himself. 9 ^bmAnd God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs, 10 and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink; for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age? So you would endanger my head with the king.” 11 Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 12 “Test your servants for ^bnten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat ^bothe king’s food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see.” 14 So he listened to them in this matter, and tested them for ten days. 15 At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate ^bpthe king’s food. 16 ^bqSo the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them ^brvegetables.

17 As for these four youths, ^bsGod gave them learning and ^btskill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had ^buunderstanding in all visions and dreams. 18 At the end of ^bvthe time, when the king had commanded that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. 19 And the king spoke with them, and among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore ^bwthey stood before the king. 20 And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all ^bxthe magicians and ^byenchanters that were in all his kingdom. 21 And Daniel ^bzwas there until the first year of ^caKing Cyrus.