2 Kings 23:27
And the LORD said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there. And the LORD said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.
The verse belongs to the history of Judah after the ten tribes of Israel had been swept away, in the account that continues through the Babylonian captivity. It stands in the account of Josiah in 2 Kings 22-23, where the recovered law of God brought the king to recognize Judah's disobedience, humble himself, renew the covenant, and restore the Passover. That chapter shows how renewed study of Scripture can lead to reformation. It records the warning through Huldah that the judgment threatened in the law would fall on Jerusalem and its people.
The announced judgment came because of idolatry, including rulers' turns to idolatry that brought calamity on the kingdom. It came because Judah rejected God's law and the counsel of His prophets, profaned the Sabbath, and provoked Him by the sins of Manasseh. Judah followed the same course of departure from God that had led Israel to captivity. The verse declares that God would remove Judah out of His sight and from His favor as He had removed Israel. It declares that He would cast off and reject Jerusalem and the house or temple, though He had chosen the city as the place for His name to dwell there.
The warning of impending wrath and the declared judgment remained even as Josiah began his national reform. His devoted reformation was a bright period and brought temporal reformation, but it did not cancel or remove the announced judgment. He could not stop the people's downward course. The announced judgment on Judah was reflected in the Babylonian captivity, when Judah soon fell to Nebuchadnezzar.
The verse marks the end of Josiah's reign as the point after which Judah ceased keeping God's commandments and statutes. It is used to date the end of the Jewish years of release and Jubilees to 607 B.C. From then the people and land could no longer enjoy release and redemption, and the land was to lie desolate while God's people were in enemy territory. The surrounding Kings account places Jehoiakim's eleven-year reign and death in Jerusalem, supporting that he was not taken to Babylon.