2 Reyes 25

The fall of Jerusalem

¹On the tenth day of the tenth month, in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon advanced on Jerusalem with his whole army. He camped against the city, and they built siege works against it on every side. ²The city was under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. ³By the ninth day of the fourth month the city was gripped by famine, and the people of the land had no food.^{a 4}Then the city wall was breached, and all the soldiers fled by night through the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. The king went off toward the Arabah. ⁵But the Chaldean army chased the king and caught up with him in the plains of Jericho, and his whole army scattered away from him. ⁶They seized the king and took him up to Riblah, to the king of Babylon, and there they passed sentence on him. ⁷They slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons while he watched. Then the king of Babylon put out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him in bronze fetters and took him to Babylon.

The temple is burned

⁸In the fifth month, on the seventh day, the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar’s reign over Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, an official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.^{b 9}He burned the house of the LORD, the king’s palace and all the houses of Jerusalem; every important house he burned down. ¹⁰The whole Chaldean army that was with the captain of the guard tore down the walls all around Jerusalem. ¹¹Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the population.^{c 12}But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest people of the land to tend the vineyards and work the fields.^{d 13}The Chaldeans broke up the bronze pillars that were in the house of the LORD, the stands, and the bronze Sea that was in the house of the LORD, and they hauled the metal off to Babylon. ¹⁴They also took away the pots, the shovels, the wick trimmers, the dishes and all the bronze utensils used in the temple service. ¹⁵The captain of the guard took away the firepans and the sprinkling bowls, everything that was made of gold and everything that was made of silver. ¹⁶As for the two pillars, the one Sea and the stands Solomon made for the house of the LORD, the bronze of all these things was more than could be weighed. ¹⁷One pillar was about 27 feet high, with a bronze capital on top of it. The capital was about 4 1/2 feet high, with a network and pomegranates all around it, all of bronze. The second pillar, with its network, was the same.^{e 18}The captain of the guard also seized Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest next to him, and the three doorkeepers. ¹⁹From the city he took an official who had been in charge of the soldiers, five of the king’s advisers who were found in the city, the secretary of the commander of the army, who mustered the people of the land for war, and sixty of the people of the land who were still in the city.^{fg 20}Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard led them away to Riblah and brought them before the king of Babylon. ²¹The king of Babylon had them struck down and executed at Riblah, in the land of Hamath. So Judah went into exile, away from its own land. ²²Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor over the people he had left in the land of Judah.

Gedaliah at Mizpah

²³All the commanders of the forces and their men learned that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, and they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. They were Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite, together with their men. ²⁴Gedaliah swore an oath to them and their men. “Do not be afraid of the Chaldean officials,” he said. “Settle in the land, serve the king of Babylon, and all will go well with you.”

²⁵But in the seventh month Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, who was of royal descent, came with ten men and struck down Gedaliah and killed him, together with the Judeans and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah. ²⁶Then all the people, from the least to the greatest, and the commanders of the forces set out and went to Egypt, because they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

Jehoiachin is released

²⁷In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month, Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the year he became king, showed favor to Jehoiachin king of Judah and released him from prison.^{hi 28}He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor above the seats of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. ²⁹So Jehoiachin put off his prison clothes, and for the rest of his life he ate regularly at the king’s table. ³⁰And the king gave him a regular allowance, a portion for each day, all the days of his life.^j