1And it happened, in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and he encamped against it, and they built a siege-wall against it all around.
2And the city came under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
3On the ninth of the month the famine grew severe in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.
4Then the city was breached, and all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden, while the Chaldeans were against the city all around; and he went by way of the Arabah.
5But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him.
6And they seized the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they pronounced judgment upon him.
7And they slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he blinded the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with bronze fetters, and brought him to Babylon.
8And in the fifth month, on the seventh of the month—that is the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
9And he burned the house of Yahweh and the house of the king; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great house, he burned with fire.
10And all the army of the Chaldeans who were under the captain of the guard tore down the walls of Jerusalem all around.
11And the rest of the people who were left in the city, and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude—Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took into exile.
12But some of the poorest of the land the captain of the guard left behind, to be vinedressers and field workers.
13And the bronze pillars that were in the house of Yahweh, and the stands, and the bronze Sea that was in the house of Yahweh, the Chaldeans broke to pieces, and they carried their bronze to Babylon.
14And the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the dishes, and all the bronze vessels with which they ministered, they took away.
15And the firepans and the bowls, whatever was of gold, as gold, and whatever was of silver, as silver, the captain of the guard took away.
16The two pillars, the one Sea, and the stands that Solomon had made for the house of Yahweh—the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weighing.
17Eighteen cubits was the height of the one pillar, and a capital of bronze was upon it, and the height of the capital was three cubits, with lattice-work and pomegranates upon the capital all around, all of bronze; and the second pillar had the like, with the lattice-work.
18And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold.
19And from the city he took one official who was in charge 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 commander 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.
20And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and led them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
21And the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah went into exile from off its land.
22And over the people who remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left behind, he appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan.
23And when all the commanders of the forces, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and Johanan son of Kareah, and Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite, they and their men.
24And Gedaliah swore to them and to their men, and said to them, “Do not be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you.”
25But it happened in the seventh month that Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal seed, came, and ten men with him, and they struck down Gedaliah so that he died, along with the Judeans and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.
26And all the people, from the least to the greatest, and the commanders of the forces, arose and came to Egypt, for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.
27And it happened in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh of the month, that Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the year he became king, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of the prison house.
28And he spoke kindly with him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon.
29And he changed his prison garments, and he ate bread continually before him all the days of his life.
30And his allowance, a continual allowance, was given him from the king, the matter of each day in its day, all the days of his life.
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