2 Kings 25

¹ In the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar kingof Babylon advanced on Jerusalem with his entire army; he pitched camp in front of the city and threw upearthworks round it.

² The city lay under siege til the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

³ In the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, when famine was raging in the city and there wasno food for the populace,

⁴ a breach was made in the city wal . The king then made his escape under cover of dark, with all thefighting men, by way of the gate between the two wal s, which is near the king's garden -- the Chaldaeans hadsurrounded the city -- and made his way towards the Arabah.

⁵ The Chaldaean troops pursued the king and caught up with him in the Plains of Jericho, where al histroops deserted.

⁶ The Chaldaeans captured the king and took him to the king of Babylon at Riblah, who passed sentenceon him.

⁷ He had Zedekiah's sons slaughtered before his eyes, then put out Zedekiah's eyes and, loading himwith chains, carried him off to Babylon.

⁸ In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month -- it was in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzarking of Babylon -- Nebuzaradan commander of the guard, a member of the king of Babylon's staff, enteredJerusalem.

⁹ He burned down the Temple of Yahweh, the royal palace and al the houses in Jerusalem.

¹⁰ The Chaldaean troops who accompanied the commander of the guard demolished the wal ssurrounding Jerusalem.

¹¹ Nebuzaradan commander of the guard deported the remainder of the population left in the city, thedeserters who had gone over to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the common people.

¹² But the commander of the guard left some of the poor country people behind as vineyard workers andploughmen.

¹³ The Chaldaeans broke up the bronze pil ars from the Temple of Yahweh, the wheeled stands and thebronze Sea, which were in the Temple of Yahweh, and took the bronze away to Babylon.

¹⁴ They also took the ash containers, the scoops, the knives, the incense boats, and al the bronzefurnishings used in worship.

¹⁵ The commander of the guard also took the censers and the sprinkling bowls, everything made of goldand everything made of silver.

¹⁶ As regards the two pil ars, the one Sea and the wheeled stands, which Solomon of bronze in al theseobjects.

¹⁷ The height of one pil ar was eighteen cubits, and on it stood a capital of bronze, the height of thecapital being five cubits; round the capital were filigree and pomegranates, al in bronze. So also for the secondpil ar.

¹⁸ The commander of the guard took prisoner Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank,and the three guardians of the threshold.

¹⁹ In the city he took prisoner an official who was in command of the fighting men, five of the king'spersonal friends who were discovered in the city, the secretary to the army commander, responsible for militaryconscription, and sixty men of distinction discovered in the city.

²⁰ Nebuzaradan commander of the guard took these men and brought them to the king of Babylon atRiblah,

²¹ and at Riblah in the territory of Hamath the king of Babylon had them put to death. Thus Judah wasdeported from its country.

²² For the people remaining in the country of Judah whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had leftbehind, he appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan as governor.

²³ When the military leaders and their men all heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah asgovernor, they went to him at Mizpah: Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son ofTanhumeth the Netophathite, Jaazaniah the Maacathite, they and their men.

²⁴ To them and to their men Gedaliah swore an oath. 'Do not be afraid of the Chaldaeans,' he said, 'stayin the country, serve the king of Babylon, and al wil go wel with you.'

²⁵ But in the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, who was of royal descent, andten men with him, came and murdered Gedaliah, as wel as the Judaeans and Chaldaeans who were with him atMizpah.

²⁶ Then all the people, high and low, with the military leaders, set off and went to Egypt, being afraid ofthe Chaldaeans.

²⁷ In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the year he came to the throne, pardonedJehoiachin king of Judah and released him from prison.

²⁸ He treated him with kindness and al otted him a seat above those of the other kings who were withhim in Babylon.

²⁹ So Jehoiachin laid aside his prisoner's garb, and for the rest of his life always ate at the king's table.

³⁰ And his upkeep was permanently ensured by the king, day after day, for the rest of his life.