2 Kings 25

¹And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezʹzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem, and laid siege to it; and they built siegeworks against it round about. ²So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedekiʹah. ³On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. ⁴Then a breach was made in the city; the king with all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, by the king’s garden, though the Chaldeʹans were around the city. And they went in the direction of the Arabah. ⁵But the army of the Chaldeʹans pursued the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him. ⁶Then they captured the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, who passed sentence upon him. ⁷They slew the sons of Zedekiʹah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiʹah, and bound him in fetters, and took him to Babylon.

⁸In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month—which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezʹzar, king of Babylon—Nebuʹzaradʹan, the captain of the bodyguard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. ⁹And he burned the house of the Lord, and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. ¹⁰And all the army of the Chaldeʹans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem. ¹¹And the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the multitude, Nebuʹzaradʹan the captain of the guard carried into exile. ¹²But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.

¹³And the pillars of bronze that were in the house of the Lord, and the stands and the bronze sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeʹans broke in pieces, and carried the bronze to Babylon. ¹⁴And they took away the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the dishes for incense and all the vessels of bronze used in the temple service, ¹⁵the firepans also, and the bowls. What was of gold the captain of the guard took away as gold, and what was of silver, as silver. ¹⁶As for the two pillars, the one sea, and the stands, which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord, the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weight. ¹⁷The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and upon it was a capital of bronze; the height of the capital was three cubits; a network and pomegranates, all of bronze, were upon the capital round about. And the second pillar had the like, with the network.

¹⁸And the captain of the guard took Seraiʹah the chief priest, and Zephaniʹah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold; ¹⁹and from the city he took an officer who had been in command of the men of war, and five men of the king’s council who were found in the city; and the secretary of 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 Nebuʹzaradʹan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ²¹And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was taken into exile out of its land.

²²And over the people who remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezʹzar king of Babylon had left, he appointed Gedaliʹah the son of Ahiʹkam, son of Shaphan, governor. ²³Now when all the captains of the forces in the open country and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliʹah governor, they came with their men to Gedaliʹah at Mizpah, namely, Ishʹmael the son of Nethaniʹah, and Johaʹnan the son of Kareʹah, and Seraiʹah the son of Tanhuʹmeth the Netophʹathite, and Ja-azaniʹah the son of the Ma-acʹathite. ²⁴And Gedaliʹah swore to them and their men, saying, “Do not be afraid because of the Chaldeʹan officials; dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.” ²⁵But in the seventh month, Ishʹmael the son of Nethaniʹah, son of Elishʹama, of the royal family, came with ten men, and attacked and killed Gedaliʹah and the Jews and the Chaldeʹans who were with him at Mizpah. ²⁶Then all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces arose, and went to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeʹans.

²⁷And in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiʹachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evil-merʹodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, graciously freed Jehoiʹachin king of Judah from prison; ²⁸and he spoke kindly to him, and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon. ²⁹So Jehoiʹachin put off his prison garments. And every day of his life he dined regularly at the king’s table; ³⁰and for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, every day a portion, as long as he lived.