Jehoiachin and 10,000 exiled to Babylon
2 Kings 24:8–17; 2 Chronicles 36:9–10; Jeremiah 24; Esther 2:5–6; Ezekiel 1:2
After Jehoiakim died, his son Jehoiachin reigned three months before Nebuchadnezzar carried him, the nobles, the craftsmen, and 10,000 captives to Babylon, and made Zedekiah king.
He carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths. No one remained except the poorest people of the land.
2 Kings 24:14 (World English Bible)
Among the exiles were the young priest Ezekiel and, according to Esther 2:6, the family of Mordecai. Jeremiah wrote to the exiles telling them to build houses, plant gardens, and seek the welfare of Babylon, because God had plans to give them a future after seventy years (Jeremiah 29).
Places
Dating notes
Ussher, 599 BC; conventional dating gives 597 BC, fixed by the Babylonian Chronicle. Jehoiachin was later released from prison in Babylon (2 Kings 25:27–30), and Babylonian ration tablets naming “Yaukin, king of Judah” have been found.