Bible Strands
2 Kings 23:36
Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah; she was from Rumah.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the accession details of King Jehoiakim of Judah immediately after his installation by Pharaoh Neco and the subsequent taxation of the land.
The words — `עֶשְׂרִ֨ים` (`'es.Rim`) = twenty and `שָׁנָ֨ה` (`sha.Nah`) = year[s], which frame his age at coronation and the duration of his rule.
The thread — This accession formula and reign length recur in 2 Chronicles 36:5, while his lineage and prophetic timeline appear in 1 Chronicles 3:15 and Jeremiah 1:3.
Why it lands — It establishes a factual historical baseline for Jehoiakim’s rule before the text records his moral failure. The verse demands precise chronological tracking of Judah’s monarchs to contextualize their subsequent actions.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.
Cross-references
- 2 Chronicles 36:5 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD his God.
- 1 Chronicles 3:15 The sons of Josiah: Johanan was the firstborn, Jehoiakim the second, Zedekiah the third, and Shallum the fourth.
- Jeremiah 1:3 and through the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, until the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.
- Jeremiah 26:1 At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came from the LORD: