Nebuchadnezzar Besieges Jerusalem
1 In the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all of his army came against Jerusalem. They camped against it and built a siege wall all around it. 2 So the city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.
3 By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that there was no bread for the people of the land.
4 Then a breach was made in the city, and though the Chaldeans had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden. The king went by the way of the Arabah, 5 but the Chaldean army pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his army scattered from him. 6 Then they captured the king and took him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah who pronounced his sentence. 7 They killed Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes, then put out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him in fetters, and took him to Babylon.
The Temple Destroyed
8 Now in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9 He burned down the house of the Lord, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every great house, he burned down. 10 All the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem.
11 Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took captive the remnant of the people who were left in the city, and those who fell away, who fell to the king of Babylon, and the remnant of the multitude. 12 But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to work the vineyards and fields.
13 The Chaldeans broke up the pillars of bronze that were in the house of the Lord and the carts and the bronze reservoir which was called the Sea that were in the house of the Lord, and took the bronze pieces to Babylon. 14 They took the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the spoons, and all the vessels of bronze with which they ministered. 15 The captain of the guard took the fire pans, the basins, that which was of gold or silver.
16 The bronze from all of these vessels: the two pillars, the one Sea, and the carts which Solomon had made for house of the Lord, was beyond measure. 17 The height of the one pillar was 27 feet, and a capital of bronze was on it. The height of the capital was four and half feet, with network and pomegranates on the capital around it. All of bronze and the second pillar with its network was like these.
18 The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold. 19 From the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war and five men of those who saw the king’s face, who were found in the city, and the scribe, the captain of the army, who mustered the people of the land, and 60 of the people of the land, who were found in the city.
20 Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah. 21 The king of Babylon attacked them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was taken captive out of his land.
Gedaliah Made Governor of Judah
22 As for the people who were left in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor.
23 Now when all the captains of the forces, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah: Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men. 24 Gedaliah swore to them and to their men and said to them, “Don’t be afraid because of the servants of the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you.”
25 But in the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal offspring came, and ten men with him, and struck Gedaliah, so that he died, with the Jews and the Chaldeans that were with him at Mizpah. 26 All the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces, arose and came to Egypt, for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.
Jeholachin Released from Prison
27 In the 37th year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the 27th day of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, brought up Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. 28 He spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon.
29 Jehoiachin changed out of his prison garments and dined regularly in the presence of the king all the days of his life. 30 For his income, there was a continual allowance given him from the king, every day a portion, all the days of his life.