[23:35] King Jehoiakim collected a tax from the people in proportion to their wealth, in order to raise the amount needed to pay the tribute demanded by the king of Egypt.
[23:36] Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother was Zebidah, the daughter of Pedaiah from the town of Rumah.
[23:37] Following the example of his ancestors, Jehoiakim sinned against the Lord.
[24:1] While Jehoiakim was king, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia invaded Judah, and for three years Jehoiakim was forced to submit to his rule; then he rebelled.
[24:2] The Lord sent armed bands of Babylonians, Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites against Jehoiakim to destroy Judah, as the Lord had said through his servants the prophets that he would do.
[24:3] This happened at the Lord's command, in order to banish the people of Judah from his sight because of all the sins that King Manasseh had committed,
[24:4] and especially because of all the innocent people he had killed. The Lord could not forgive Manasseh for that.
[24:5] Everything that Jehoiakim did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah.
[24:6] Jehoiakim died, and his son Jehoiachin succeeded him as king.
[24:7] The king of Egypt and his army never marched out of Egypt again, because the king of Babylonia now controlled all the territory that had belonged to Egypt, from the Euphrates River to the northern border of Egypt.