2 Kings 24:8 and 2 Chronicles 36:9
Jehoiachin: 18 or 8?
2 Kings 24:8 makes Jehoiachin 18 at his accession; 2 Chronicles 36:9 in the Hebrew and in the library's Greek makes him 8, reigning "three months and ten days." Some ancient witnesses of Chronicles are reported to read 18.
Read 2 Kings 24:8 and 2 Chronicles 36:9 in every edition
Manuscript variant: witnesses differ in wording
The family tree
Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.
✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives
- Same line, through lost copies
- Translation
Every witness, in order
Unknown (debated)
Original Kings
No original survives.
Chronicles composed c. 4th century BC
2 Chronicles 36:9 (parallel account, Masoretic Text)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.
בֶּן־שְׁמוֹנֶה שָׁנִים יְהוֹיָכִין בְּמָלְכוֹ וּשְׁלֹשָׁה חֳדָשִׁים וַעֲשֶׂרֶת יָמִים
eight years old was Jehoiachin… three months and ten days
Translated c. 2nd century BC
Septuagint, 2 Chronicles 36:9 (library text: Giguet's French)
How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.
Jéchonias avait huit ans
Some Greek (Lucianic) witnesses and the Syriac are reported to read 18. One Greek text (Vaticanus type, kaige revision) via Giguet's French; not checked against a critical Greek edition.
Translated c. 2nd century BC; kaige revision 1st c. BC–1st c. AD
Septuagint, 4 Kingdoms (library text: Giguet's French)
How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.
Joachim avait dix-huit ans
2 Kings 24:8. One Greek text (Vaticanus type, kaige revision) via Giguet's French; not checked against a critical Greek edition.
c. AD 400
Jerome's Vulgate
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).
Decem et octo annorum erat Joachin
2 Kings 24:8.
AD 1008
Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.
בֶּן־שְׁמֹנֶה עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה יְהוֹיָכִין בְּמָלְכוֹ
eighteen years old was Jehoiachin
2 Kings 24:8.
1611
King James Bible
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).
Jehoiachin was eighteen years old (2 Kings); eight years old (2 Chronicles)
What changed, and why
2 Kings 24:15 mentions Jehoiachin's wives, and Ezekiel 19:5–9 describes him as a young lion who devoured men; both favor 18. Most scholars think "ten" dropped out of Chronicles' number and moved to the days. The site shows both as written.
What the evidence shows
- Kings reads 18; the Hebrew of Chronicles reads 8.
- 18 is the original reading.
Sources
- E. Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 3rd ed. (2012)
Related lessons
- Babylon's First Capture of Jerusalem →Jehoiakim becomes Nebuchadnezzar's vassal for three years, then rebels; raiders from Babylon, Aram, Moab and Ammon attack Judah. His son Jehoiachin, eighteen, reigns three months. Nebuchadnezzar besieges Jerusalem; Jehoiachin surrenders with his mother and officials, and is taken to Babylon with the temple treasures, the elite, soldiers and craftsmen. Nebuchadnezzar makes Mattaniah king, renaming him Zedekiah, who later rebels.
- How 2 Kings Came to Us →2 Kings is the second half of the Hebrew book of Kings. It ends with an event of about 561 BC, so its final form is no earlier than that. It names lost royal chronicles as sources, shares long passages with Isaiah and Jeremiah, and is retold in Chronicles. Qumran preserves only small papyrus fragments; the main Greek manuscripts carry a revision toward the Hebrew (kaige) throughout 2 Kings.