< 2 Kings 25 >
1 Then it happened that, in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, he and his entire army, arrived against Jerusalem. And they encircled it, and they constructed fortifications all around it.
2 And the city was enclosed and besieged, even until the eleventh year of king Zedekiah,
3 on the ninth day of the month. And a famine prevailed in the city; neither was there bread for the people of the land.
4 And the city was breached. And all the men of war fled in the night along the way of the gate which is between the double wall at the garden of the king. Now the Chaldeans were besieging the city on all sides. And so Zedekiah fled along the way which leads to the plains of the wilderness.
5 And the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and they overtook him in the plains of Jericho. And all the warriors who were with him were dispersed, and they abandoned him.
6 Therefore, having apprehended him, they led the king to the king of Babylon at Riblah. And he was speaking with him in judgment.
7 Then he killed the sons of Zedekiah before him, and he dug out his eyes, and he bound him with chains, and he led him away to Babylon.
8 In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, the same is the nineteenth year of the king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the leader of the army, a servant of the king of Babylon, went into Jerusalem.
9 And he set fire to the house of the Lord, and to the house of the king. And the houses of Jerusalem, and every great house, he burned with fire.
10 And the entire army of the Chaldeans, which was with the leader of the military, tore down the walls of Jerusalem all around.
11 Then Nebuzaradan, the leader of the military, carried away the rest of the people, who had remained in the city, and the fugitives, who had fled over to the king of Babylon, and the remnant of the common people.
12 But he left behind some vinedressers and farmers from the poor of the land.
13 Now the pillars of brass which were in the temple of the Lord, and the bases, and the sea of brass, which was in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke apart. And they took all the brass to Babylon.
14 Also, they took away the cooking pots of brass, and the scoops, and the forks, and the cups, and the little mortars, and all the articles of brass with which they were ministering.
15 And the leader of the military even took away the censers and the bowls, whatever was of gold for the gold, and whatever was of silver for the silver,
16 and also the two pillars, the one sea, and the bases which Solomon had made for the temple of the Lord. The brass of all these items was beyond measure.
17 One pillar had eighteen cubits in height. And the head of brass upon it was three cubits in height. And the network and pomegranates upon the head of the pillar were all of brass. And the second pillar had a similar adornment.
18 Also, the leader of the military took away Seraiah, the chief priest, and Zephaniah, the second priest, and three doorkeepers,
19 and from the city, one eunuch, who was in charge of the men of war, and five men out of those who had stood before the king, whom he found in the city, and Sopher, the leader of the army who trained the young soldiers from the people of the land, and sixty men from the common people, who had been found in the city.
20 Taking them, Nebuzaradan, the leader of the military, led them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
21 And the king of Babylon struck them and killed them at Riblah, in the land of Hamath. And Judah was taken away from his land.
22 But over the people who had remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had permitted, he appointed as ruler Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan.
23 And when all the commanders of the military had heard this, they and the men who were with them, specifically, that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, they went to Gedaliah at Mizpah: Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan, the son of Kareah, and Seraiah, the son of Tanhumeth, the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah, the son of a Maacathite, they and their companions.
24 And Gedaliah swore to them and to their companions, saying: “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Remain in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.”
25 But it happened that, in the seventh month, Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of royal offspring, and ten men with him, went and struck Gedaliah, who then died, along with the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.
26 And all the people, from small to great, and the leaders of the military, rising up, went away to Egypt, fearing the Chaldeans.
27 Truly, it happened that, in the thirty-seventh year of the transmigration of Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evilmerodach, the king of Babylon, in the year when he had begun to reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, from prison.
28 And he spoke kindly to him. And he set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him at Babylon.
29 And he changed his garments that he had worn in prison. And he ate bread before him always, during all the days of his life.
30 Also, he appointed to him an allowance without ceasing, which also was given to him by the king, for each day, during all the days of his life.
