1 In ^ahis days Nebuchadnezzar king of ^bBabylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him.  ‡

2 ^aAnd the Lord sent against him raiding¹ bands of Chaldeans, bands of Syrians, bands of Moabites, and bands of the people of Ammon; He sent them against Judah to destroy it, ^baccording to the word of the Lord which He had spoken by His servants the prophets.  ‡

3 Surely at the commandment of the Lord this came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight ^abecause of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done,  ‡

4 ^aand also because of the innocent blood that he had shed; for he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which the Lord would not pardon.  ‡