The Lord God put a king whose name was Nebuchadnezzar over all kings of all the countries of the world.
Jehoiakim, who was king over Israel, did what Nebuchadnezzar said for 3 years and then stopped.
The Lord sent bands of raiders against the nation Israel for all the bad that they had done and all the hurt it caused the
Lord God and the people.
Still the Lord gave Israel chances to turn back to Him so He could do good things for them.
Nebuchadnezzar came and took part of the people and their good stuff God gave them back to his city, Babylon.
He took the treasures from God’s house with him.
He took the soldiers and the workers who could make good things and only left the poor people of Israel in the special land
of God.
He put Zedekiah in charge as their king.
Zedekiah also did bad and didn’t listen to the Lord God our Maker but bowed down to the bad ones. He was king 11 years at
Jerusalem.
When Zedekiah had been king for 9 years, king Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem with his large army and surrounded the
city.
God gave the people in the city a 2 year long chance to return to the Lord God our Maker, but they didn’t.
After 2 years Nebuchadnezzar broke down the city wall and took away all the important people and the treasures in the city
and in God’s house.
He left the poorest of the people in Israel to gather in the grapes and the rest of the crops.
By doing this God cleared all the bad out of the land and let the land rest for all the time the people worked the land hard
and didn’t take good care of it.