Who goes out with Joachin to Babylon’s king, what is taken from Jerusalem, and who rules afterward?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

Joachin goes out with his mother, servants, nobles and eunuchs. Babylon’s king takes the temple and royal treasures, cuts Solomon’s gold vessels into pieces and carries the named groups into captivity, leaving only the poor people of the land. He appoints Joachin’s uncle Matthanias and names him Sedecias, whose reign ends in the chapter with revolt against Babylon.

Chapter breakdown

Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, comes up in Joakim’s days. Joakim becomes his servant for three years, then rebels against him again. The Lord sends against him the rovers of the Chaldees, Syria, Moab and the children of Ammon, sending them against Juda to destroy it according to the word spoken through his servants the prophets.

Challoner gives the Latin term Latrunculos and explains the rovers as bands or parties of men who pillaged and plundered wherever they came.

This comes by the Lord’s word against Juda to remove them from before him for all Manasses’s sins and the innocent blood he shed, filling Jerusalem with innocent blood. Therefore the Lord would not be appeased. The account asks whether Joakim’s remaining acts and all he did are written in the book of the words of the days of Juda’s kings. Joakim dies, described as sleeping with his fathers, and his son Joachin reigns in his place.

Egypt’s king does not come out of his own country again, because Babylon’s king has taken all that belonged to him from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates. Joachin begins to reign at eighteen and reigns three months in Jerusalem. His mother is Nohesta, daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. He does evil before the Lord according to all his father did.

Nabuchodonosor’s servants come against Jerusalem and surround it with their forts. Nabuchodonosor comes with his servants to assault the city. Joachin, king of Juda, goes out to Babylon’s king with his mother, servants, nobles and eunuchs. Babylon’s king receives him in the eighth year of his reign.

Babylon’s king brings out all the treasures of the Lord’s house and the treasures of the king’s house. He cuts into pieces all the gold vessels Solomon, king of Israel, made in the Lord’s temple, according to the Lord’s word. He carries away all Jerusalem, all the princes and all the army’s valiant men, to the number of ten thousand, into captivity, and every artificer and smith. None are left except the poor sort of the people of the land.

He carries Joachin to Babylon, along with the king’s mother, wives and eunuchs, and carries the judges of the land captive from Jerusalem to Babylon. He also leads all the strong men, seven thousand, and the artificers and smiths, a thousand, into Babylon as captives: all are described as valiant and fit for war.

Babylon’s king appoints Joachin’s uncle Matthanias in his place and calls him Sedecias. Sedecias begins to reign at twenty-one and reigns eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother is Amital, daughter of Jeremias of Lobna. He does evil before the Lord according to all Joakim did. The Lord is angry against Jerusalem and Juda until he casts them out from his face, and Sedecias revolts against Babylon’s king.

The story inside

Joakim’s three years as Nabuchodonosor’s servant end with renewed rebellion. The Lord sends four named groups of rovers against Juda to destroy it according to the prophetic word. Challoner separately explains their plundering character. The account gives all Manasses’s sins and the innocent blood filling Jerusalem as the reasons for removal and says the Lord would not be appeased. Joakim’s record and death lead to his son Joachin’s succession. The reason Egypt’s king no longer comes out of his country is Babylon’s taking all his holdings between the two named rivers. Joachin’s age, short reign, mother and evil conduct precede the forts around Jerusalem and Nabuchodonosor’s arrival to assault it. Joachin goes out with one named group and is received in the eighth year of Babylon’s king. The treasures and gold vessels are taken or cut up; the captivity names ten thousand and leaves the poor as the stated exception. The next verses separately name Joachin’s mother, wives, eunuchs and the judges taken to Babylon, then seven thousand strong men and one thousand artificers and smiths, all valiant and fit for war. Those figures are retained without an invented calculation of unnamed captives. Matthanias, Joachin’s uncle, is appointed and renamed Sedecias. His regnal and family details, evil like Joakim’s, the Lord’s anger and his revolt close the chapter. No surrender motive or prediction about preserved walls is added.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The account gives a specific cause for Juda’s removal. It names all Manasses’s sins and the innocent blood he shed until Jerusalem was filled with it, then says the Lord would not be appeased. The rovers act according to the word spoken through the prophets. These stated causes explain the chapter’s argument without an added universal threshold of tolerance.
2
The meeting and the captivity name different groups. Joachin goes out with his mother, servants, nobles and eunuchs. Later the captivity list includes his wives and the judges of the land. Keeping the lists at their own stages preserves who is named in each action rather than moving everyone into a single surrender scene with invented terms.
3
The counts and the exception are explicit. The account names ten thousand in the captivity, later seven thousand strong men and one thousand artificers and smiths, and says only the poor sort of the land’s people remain. It does not identify an extra two thousand by subtraction. The appointment and renaming of Joachin’s uncle then explain who replaces him without adding legal arrangements or a promised final decade.

Test your recall

How long does Joakim serve before rebelling, what causes does the account give for removal, how do the going-out and captivity groups differ, what counts and exception are stated, and how does Matthanias become Sedecias?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 40940–40952
4 Kings Chapter 24 The reign of Joakim, Joachin, and Sedecias. 24:1. In his days Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon came up, and Joakim became his servant three years: then again he rebelled against him. 24:2. And the Lord sent against him the rovers of the Chaldees, and the rovers of Syria, and the rovers of Moab, and the rovers of the children of Ammon: and he sent them against Juda, to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord, which he had spoken by his servants, the prophets.
Lines 40953–40955
The Lord sent against him the rovers.... Latrunculos. Bands or parties of men, who pillaged and plundered wherever they came.
Lines 40956–40967
24:3. And this came by the word of the Lord against Juda, to remove them from before him for all the sins of Manasses which he did; 24:4. And for the innocent blood that he shed, filling Jerusalem with innocent blood: and therefore the Lord would not be appeased. 24:5. But the rest of the acts of Joakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda? And Joakim slept with his fathers: 24:6. And Joachin, his son, reigned in his stead.
Lines 40968–40978
24:7. And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his own country: for the king of Babylon had taken all that had belonged to the king of Egypt, from the river of Egypt, unto the river Euphrates. 24:8. Joachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Nohesta, the daughter of Elnathan, of Jerusalem. 24:9. And he did evil before the Lord, according to all that his father had done.
Lines 40979–40989
24:10. At that time the servants of Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, came up against Jerusalem, and the city was surrounded with their forts. 24:11. And Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, came to the city, with his servants, to assault it. 24:12. And Joachin, king of Juda, went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his nobles, and his eunuchs: and the king of Babylon received him in the eighth year of his reign.
Lines 40990–40999
24:13. And he brought out from thence all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king’s house: and he cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon, king of Israel, had made in the temple of the Lord, according to the word of the Lord. 24:14. And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the valiant men of the army, to the number of ten thousand, into captivity: and every artificer and smith: and none were left, but the poor sort of the people of the land.
Lines 41000–41007
24:15. And he carried away Joachin into Babylon, and the king’s mother, and the king’s wives, and his eunuchs: and the judges of the land he carried into captivity, from Jerusalem, into Babylon. 24:16. And all the strong men, seven thousand, and the artificers, and the smiths, a thousand, all that were valiant men, and fit for war: and the king of Babylon led them captives into Babylon.
Lines 41008–41022
24:17. And he appointed Matthanias, his uncle, in his stead: and called his name Sedecias. 24:18. Sedecias was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Amital, the daughter of Jeremias, of Lobna. 24:19. And he did evil before the Lord, according to all that Joakim had done. 24:20. For the Lord was angry against Jerusalem and against Juda, till he cast them out from his face: and Sedecias revolted from the king of Babylon.