Jeremiah 39

¹In the ninth year of Zedekiʹah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadrezʹzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and besieged it; ²in the eleventh year of Zedekiʹah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city. ³When Jerusalem was taken, all the princes of the king of Babylon came and sat in the middle gate: Nerʹgal-shareʹzer, Samʹgar-neʹbo, Sarʹsechim the Rabʹsaris, Nerʹgal-shareʹzer the Rabmag, with all the rest of the officers of the king of Babylon. ⁴When Zedekiʹah king of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled, going out of the city at night by way of the king’s garden through the gate between the two walls; and they went toward the Arabah. ⁵But the army of the Chaldeʹans pursued them, and overtook Zedekiʹah in the plains of Jericho; and when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadrezʹzar king of Babylon, at Riblah, in the land of Hamath; and he passed sentence upon him. ⁶The king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiʹah at Riblah before his eyes; and the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah. ⁷He put out the eyes of Zedekiʹah, and bound him in fetters to take him to Babylon. ⁸The Chaldeʹans burned the king’s house and the house of the people, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. ⁹Then Nebuʹzaradʹan, the captain of the guard, carried into exile to Babylon the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had deserted to him, and the people who remained. ¹⁰Nebuʹzaradʹan, the captain of the guard, left in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.

¹¹Nebuchadrezʹzar king of Babylon gave command concerning Jeremiah through Nebuʹzaradʹan, the captain of the guard, saying, ¹²“Take him, look after him well and do him no harm, but deal with him as he tells you.” ¹³So Nebuʹzaradʹan the captain of the guard, Nebushazʹban the Rabʹsaris, Nerʹgal-shareʹzer the Rabmag, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon ¹⁴sent and took Jeremiah from the court of the guard. They entrusted him to Gedaliʹah the son of Ahiʹkam, son of Shaphan, that he should take him home. So he dwelt among the people.

¹⁵The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the guard: ¹⁶“Go, and say to Eʹbed-melʹech the Ethiopian, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will fulfil my words against this city for evil and not for good, and they shall be accomplished before you on that day. ¹⁷But I will deliver you on that day, says the Lord, and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid. ¹⁸For I will surely save you, and you shall not fall by the sword; but you shall have your life as a prize of war, because you have put your trust in me, says the Lord.’ ”