In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim. The prophecy that follows was, according to this reading, given in the 4th year of Jehoiakim, 15 years before it was published in the reign of Zedekiah, to whom it refers; it was thus long deposited in the prophet's bosom, in order that by it he might be supported under trials in his prophetic career in the interim (Calvin). But "Zedekiah" may be the true reading. So the Syriac and Arabic versions. Jeremiah 27:3; Jeremiah 27:12; Jeremiah 28:1 confirms this. Also one of Kennicott's manuscript. The English version's reading may have originated from Jeremiah 26:1: "Son of Josiah" applies to Zedekiah as truly as to "Jehoiakim" or "Eliakim." The 4th year may, in a general sense, here, as in Jeremiah 28:1, be called "the beginning of his reign," as it lasted 11 years (2 Kings 24:18). It was not long after the 4th year of his reign that he rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 51:59; Jeremiah 52:3; 2 Kings 24:20), in violation of an oath before God which Nebuchadnezzar made him to take (2 Chronicles 36:13).