How did the unfaithfulness of Juda's final kings and people lead to the destruction of Jerusalem and the desolation of the land?

Following the death of Josias, the people of the land crowned his son Joachaz king in Jerusalem. Joachaz was twenty-three years old at his accession, but reigned for only three months before the king of Egypt arrived in Jerusalem and deposed him. The Egyptian ruler imposed a heavy tribute on the land, exacting one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold. Nechao appointed Joachaz's brother Eliakim as king over Juda and Jerusalem, changing his name to Joakim, while taking Joachaz captive and carrying him into Egypt. Joakim was twenty-five years old when he assumed the throne, reigning for eleven years in Jerusalem, during which he practiced evil in the sight of the Lord his God. King Nabuchodonosor of the Chaldeans subsequently marched against him, capturing the monarch and taking him bound in chains to Babylon. Nabuchodonosor also looted sacred vessels from the temple of the Lord, depositing them into his own pagan temple in Babylon. The remainder of Joakim's deeds, his abominations, and the guilt found against him were recorded in the annals of the kings of Juda and Israel, and his son Joachin succeeded him on the throne.

Joachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for three months and ten days in Jerusalem, doing evil in the sight of the Lord. The edition annotation explains this age by noting that he was associated with the kingdom by his father when he was eight years old, but reigned alone at eighteen years of age after his father's death, comparing 4 Kings 24:8. At the return of the year, King Nabuchodonosor sent and brought Joachin to Babylon, carrying away at the same time the most precious vessels of the house of the Lord, and made his uncle Sedecias king over Juda and Jerusalem.

Sedecias was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, ruling for eleven years in Jerusalem. He did evil before the Lord his God and did not reverence the face of Jeremias the prophet speaking to him from the mouth of the Lord. Furthermore, Sedecias rebelled against King Nabuchodonosor, violating the solemn oath he had sworn in God's name, hardening his neck and heart rather than turning back in repentance to the Lord God of Israel. During his reign, all the chief priests and the people compounded their wickedness by adopting all the abominations of the Gentiles, defiling the consecrated temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. Although the Lord God of their ancestors sent continuous admonitions through His prophetic messengers, rising early and dispatching them daily out of compassion for His people and His holy sanctuary, the people mocked the messengers, despised the divine words, and mistreated the prophets until the wrath of the Lord rose against them beyond all remedy.

Because of their unyielding obstinacy, the Lord brought against them the king of the Chaldeans, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of His sanctuary. The Chaldean king had no compassion on young man, maiden, old man, or even him that stooped for age, but God delivered them all into his hands. The Chaldeans plundered all the vessels of the house of God, both large and small, alongside the treasures of the temple, the king, and the princes, transporting everything to Babylon. The enemies then set fire to the house of God, broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burnt all its towers, and destroyed whatever was precious. Whosoever escaped the sword was led into Babylon into captivity, where they served the Babylonian monarch and his sons until the reign of the king of Persia. This desolation fulfilled the word of the Lord spoken through the mouth of Jeremias, allowing the land to enjoy its sabbath rests throughout all the days of its desolation until the seventy years were expired.

In the first year of Cyrus, king of the Persians, to fulfil the word of the Lord spoken by the mouth of Jeremias, the Lord stirred up the heart of Cyrus, king of the Persians. He commanded a formal proclamation throughout his vast kingdom, promulgated both by herald and in writing, announcing that the Lord God of heaven had given him all the kingdoms of the earth and had explicitly charged him to build Him a house in Jerusalem, located in Judea. The Persian king declared that any member of God's people residing throughout his realm was permitted to go up, praying that the Lord his God might be with him, to rebuild the house of the Lord.