2 Kings 25
1 And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, the tenth day of the month, that Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon came, he and all his army against Jerusalem: and they surrounded it: and raised works round about it.
On January 15 of the ninth year that Zedekiah had been ruling, King Nebuchadnezzar arrived with his whole army, and they surrounded Jerusalem. They built ramps [made of dirt against the walls of the city], so that they could climb up the ramps and attack the city.
2 And the city was shut up and besieged till the eleventh year of king Sedecias,
They did that for two years.
3 The ninth day of the month: and a famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.
After Zedekiah had been ruling for eleven years, the (famine/shortage of food) had become very bad. All their food was gone.
4 And a breach was made into the city: and all the men of war fled in the night between the two walls by the king’s garden, (now the Chaldees besieged the city round about, ) and Sedecias fled by the way that leadeth to the plains of the wilderness.
On July 18 of that year, the Babylonian soldiers broke through part of the city wall, [and that enabled them to enter the city]. All the soldiers of Judah [wanted to escape]. But the Babylonian soldiers surrounded the city, so the [king and] the soldiers of Judah waited until it was nighttime. Then they fled through the gate that was between the two walls near the king’s park. They ran across the fields and started to go down to the Jordan [River] Valley.
5 And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all the warriors that were with him were scattered, and left him:
But the Babylonian soldiers chased/ran after them. They caught the king when he was by himself in the valley near the Jordan River. He was by himself because all his soldiers had abandoned him.
6 So they took the king, and brought him to the king of Babylon to Reblatha, and he gave judgment upon him.
The Babylonian soldiers took King Zedekiah to Riblah [city] in Babylon. There the king of Babylon decided what they would do to punish him.
7 And he slew the sons of Sedecias before his face, and he put out his eyes, and bound him with chains, and brought him to Babylon.
There the king of Babylon forced Zedekiah to watch as the Babylonian soldiers killed all of Zedekiah’s sons. Then they gouged out Zedekiah’s eyes. They put bronze chains on [his hands and feet] and then they took him to Babylon.
8 In the fifth month, the seventh day of the month, that is, the nineteenth year of the king of Babylon, came Nabuzardan commander of the army, a servant of the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem.
On August 14 of that year, after Nebuchadnezzar had been ruling for 19 years, Nebuzaradan arrived in Jerusalem. He was one of king Nebuchadnezzar’s officials and captain of the men that guarded the king.
9 And he burnt the house of the Lord, and the king’s house, and the houses of Jerusalem, and every house he burnt with fire.
He [commanded his soldiers to] burn down the temple of Yahweh, the king’s palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem. So they burned down all the important buildings in the city.
10 And all the army of the Chaldees, which was with the commander of the troops, broke down the walls of Jerusalem round about.
Then Nebuzaradan supervised all the soldiers of the Babylonian army as they tore down the walls of Jerusalem.
11 And Nabuzardan the commander of the army, carried away the rest of the people that remained in the city, and the fugitives that had gone over to the king of Babylon, and the remnant of the common people.
Then he and his soldiers took to Babylon the people who were still living in the city, the other people [who lived in that area], and the soldiers who had previously surrendered to the Babylonian army.
12 But of the poor of the land he left some dressers of vines and husbandmen.
But Nebuzaradan allowed some of the very poor people to stay in Judah to take care of the vineyards and [to plant crops in] the fields.
13 And the pillars of brass that were in the temple of the Lord, and the bases, and the sea of brass which was in the house of the Lord, the Chaldees broke in pieces, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon.
The Babylonian soldiers broke into pieces the bronze pillars, the bronze carts with wheels, and the huge bronze basin, all of which were in the temple courtyard, and they took all the bronze to Babylon.
14 They took away also the pots of brass, and the mazers, and the forks, and the cups, and the mortars, and all the vessels of brass with which they ministered.
They also took the pots, the shovels, the instruments for (snuffing out/extinguishing) [the wicks of] the lamps, the dishes, and all the other bronze items that the Israeli priests had used for offering sacrifices at the temple.
15 Moreover also the censers, and the bowls, such as were of gold in gold, and such as were of silver in silver, the general of the army took away.
The soldiers also took away the (firepans/trays for carrying burning coals), the basins, and [all the other] items made of pure gold or pure silver.
16 That is, two pillars, one sea, and the bases which Solomon had made in the temple of the Lord: the brass of all these vessels was without weight.
The bronze from the two pillars, the carts with wheels, and the huge basin were very heavy; they could not be weighed. (Those things had been made/A man named Hiram had made these things) for the temple when Solomon [was the king of Israel].
17 One pillar was eighteen cubits high, and the chapiter of brass which was upon it was three cubits high: and the network, and the pomegranates that were upon the chapiter of the pillar, were all of brass: and the second pillar had the like adorning.
Each of the pillars was (27 feet/8 meters) tall. The bronze capital/top of each pillar was (7-1/2 feet/2.3 meters) high. They were each decorated all around with something that looked like a net made of bronze chains connecting bronze pomegranates.
18 And the general of the army took Seraias the chief priest, and Sophonias the second priest, and three doorkeepers.
Nebuzaradan took with him to Babylon Seraiah the Supreme Priest, Zephaniah his assistant, and the three men who guarded the entrance [to the temple].
19 And out of the city one eunuch, who was captain over the men of war: and five men of them that had stood before the king, whom he found in the city, and Sopher the captain of the army who exercised the young soldiers of the people of the land: and threescore men of the common people, who were found in the city.
And they found people who were still hiding in Jerusalem. From those people he took one officer from the Judean army, five of the king’s advisors, the chief secretary of the army commander who was in charge of recruiting men to join the army, and 60 other important Judean men.
20 These Nabuzardan the general of the army took away, and carried them to the king of Babylon to Reblatha.
Nebuzaradan took them all to the king of Babylon at Riblah [city].
21 And the king of Babylon smote them, and slew them at Reblatha in the land of Emath: so Juda was carried away out of their land.
There at Riblah, in Hamath province, the king of Babylon commanded that they all be executed. That is what happened when the people of Judah were (taken forcefully/exiled) from their land [to Babylon].
22 But over the people that remained in the land of Juda, which Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon had left, he gave the government to Godolias the son of Ahicam the son of Saphan.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar appointed Gedaliah, who was the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, to be the governor of the people who were still living in Judah.
23 And when all the captains of the soldiers had heard this, they and the men that were with them, to wit, that the king of Babylon had made Godolias governor, they came to Godolias to Maspha, Ismael the son of Nathanias, and Johanan the son of Caree, and Saraia the son of Thanehumeth the Netophathite, and Jezonias the son of Maachathi, they and their men.
When all the army captains of Judah and their soldiers who had not surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar found out that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah to be the governor, they met with him at Mizpah [town]. These army captains were Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan the son of Kareah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth from Netophah [town], and Jaazaniah from the Maacah region.
24 And Godolias swore to them and to their men, saying: Be not afraid to serve the Chaldees: stay in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.
Gedaliah solemnly promised them [that the officials from Babylon were not planning to harm them]. He said, “You may live in this land [without being afraid] and serve the king of Babylon, and [if you do], everything will go well for you.”
25 But it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ismael the son of Nathanias, the son of Elisama of the seed royal came, and ten men with him: and smote Godolias so that he died: and also the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him in Maspha.
But in October of that year, Ishmael, whose grandfather Elishama was one of the relatives of the descendants of King David, went to Mizpah along with ten other men and assassinated/killed Gedaliah and all the men who were with him. There were also men from Judah and men from Babylon whom they assassinated.
26 And all the people both little and great, and the captains of the soldiers, rising up went to Egypt, fearing the Chaldees.
Then many [HYP] of the people from Judah, important people and unimportant ones, and the army captains, were very afraid of [what] the Babylonians [would do to them], so they fled to Egypt.
27 And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Joachin king of Juda, in the twelfth month the seven and twentieth day of the month: Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, lifted up the head of Joachin king of Juda out of prison.
Thirty-seven years after King Jehoiachin of Judah was taken to Babylon, [Nebuchadnezzar’s son] Evil-Merodach became the king of Babylon. He was kind to Jehoiachin, and on April 2 of that year, he released/freed Jehoiachin from prison.
28 And he spoke kindly to him: and he set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon.
He always spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and honored him more than the other kings who had been taken/exiled to Babylon.
29 And he changed his garments which he had in prison, and he ate bread always before him, all the days of his life.
He gave Jehoiachin new clothes to replace the clothes that he had been wearing in prison, and he allowed Jehoiachin to eat at the king’s table every day for the rest of his life.
30 And he appointed him a continual allowance, which was also given him by the king day by day, all the days of his life.
The king of Babylon also gave him money every day, so that he could buy the things that he needed. The king continued to do that until Jehoiachin died.
