2 Kings 25
v1
In the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it around it.
v2
So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.
v3
On the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.
v4
Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the kingโs garden (now the Chaldeans were against the city around it); and the king went by the way of the Arabah.
v5
But the Chaldean army pursued the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.
v6
Then they captured the king, and carried him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they passed judgment on him.
v7
They killed Zedekiahโs sons before his eyes, then put out Zedekiahโs eyes, bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon.
v8
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.
v9
He burned Yahwehโs house, the kingโs house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, he burned with fire.
v10
All the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem.
v11
Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive the residue of the people who were left in the city, and those who fell away, who fell to the king of Babylon, and the residue of the multitude.
v12
But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to work the vineyards and fields.
v13
The Chaldeans broke up the pillars of bronze that were in Yahwehโs house and the bases and the bronze sea that were in Yahwehโs house, and carried the bronze pieces to Babylon.
v14
They took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the spoons, and all the vessels of bronze with which they ministered.
v15
The captain of the guard took away the fire pans, the basins, that which was of gold, in gold, and that which was of silver, in silver.
v16
The two pillars, the one sea, and the bases, which Solomon had made for Yahwehโs house, the bronze of all these vessels was not weighed.
v17
The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a capital of bronze was on it. The height of the capital was three cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capital around it, all of bronze; and the second pillar with its network was like these.
v18
The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold;
v19
and out of the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war; and five men of those who saw the kingโs face, who were found in the city; and the scribe, the captain of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the city.
v20
Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah.
v21
The king of Babylon attacked them, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive out of his land.
v22
As for the people who were left in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor.
v23
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, even 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.
v24
Gedaliah swore to them and to their men, and said to them, โDonโt 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.โ
v25
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.
v26
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.
v27
In the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison;
v28
and he spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon,
v29
and changed his prison garments. Jehoiachin ate bread before him continually all the days of his life;
v30
and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him from the king, every day a portion, all the days of his life.