2 Kings 25
1 And in the ninth yeere of his reigne, the tenth moneth and tenth day of the moneth Nebuchad-nezzar King of Babel came, he, and all his hoste against Ierusalem, and pitched against it, and they built fortes against it 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 So the citie was besieged vnto the eleueth yeere of King Zedekiah.
They did that for two years.
3 And the ninth day of the moneth the famine was sore in the citie, so that there was no bread for the people of the lande.
After Zedekiah had been ruling for eleven years, the (famine/shortage of food) had become very bad. All their food was gone.
4 Then the citie was broken vp, and all the men of warre fled by night, by the way of the gate, which is betweene two walles that was by the Kings garden: nowe the Caldees were by the citie round about: and the King went by the way of the wildernesse.
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 But the armie of the Caldees pursued after the King, and tooke him in the desertes of Iericho, and all his hoste was scattered from 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 Then they tooke the King, and caried him vp to the King of Babel to Riblah, where they gaue iudgement vpon 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 they slew the sonnes of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bounde him in chaines, and caried him to Babel.
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 And in the fift moneth, and seuenth day of the moneth, which was the nineteenth yere of King Nebuchad-nezzar King of Babel, came Nebuzar-adan chiefe stewarde and seruaunt of the King of Babel, to Ierusalem,
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 burnt the house of the Lord, and the Kings house, and all the houses of Ierusalem, and all the great houses burnt he 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 armie of the Caldees that were with the chiefe stewarde, brake downe the walles of Ierusalem round about.
Then Nebuzaradan supervised all the soldiers of the Babylonian army as they tore down the walls of Jerusalem.
11 And the rest of the people that were left in the citie, and those that were fled and fallen to the King of Babel, with the remnant of the multitude, did Nebuzar-adan chiefe steward carie away captiue.
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 the chiefe steward left of the poore of the land to dresse the vines, and to till the land.
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 Also the pillars of brasse that were in the house of the Lord, and the bases, and the brasen Sea that was in the house of the Lord, did the Caldees breake, and caried the brasse of them to Babel.
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 The pots also and the besomes, and the instruments of musike, and the incense dishes, and al the vessels of brasse that they ministred in, tooke they away.
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 And the asshe pannes, and the basens, and all that was of gold, and that was of siluer, tooke the chiefe steward 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 With the two pillars, one Sea and the bases, which Salomon had made for the house of the Lord: the brasse 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 The height of the one pillar was eighteene cubits, and the chapiter thereon was brasse, and the height of the chapiter was with networke three cubites, and pomegranates vpon the chapiter rounde about, all of brasse: and likewise was the second pillar with the networke.
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 chiefe steward tooke Seraiah the chiefe Priest, and Zephaniah the second Priest, and the three keepers of the doore.
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 citie hee tooke an Eunuch that had the ouersight of the men of warre, and fiue men of them that were in the Kinges presence, which were founde in the citie, and Sopher captaine of the hoste, who mustred the people of the lande, and threescore men of the people of the lande, that were founde in the citie.
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 And Nebuzar-adan the chiefe stewarde tooke them, and brought them to the King of Babel to Riblah.
Nebuzaradan took them all to the king of Babylon at Riblah [city].
21 And the King of Babel smote them, and slew them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Iudah was caried away captiue out of his owne 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 Howbeit there remained people in the land of Iudah, whom Nebuchad-nezzar King of Babel left, and made Gedaliah the sonne of Ahikam the sonne of Shaphan ruler ouer them.
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 Then when all the captaines of the host and their men heard, that the king of Babel had made Gedaliah gouernour, they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, to wit, Ishmael the sonne of Nethaniah, and Iohanan the sonne of Kareah, and Seraiah the sonne of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Iaazaniah the sonne 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 Gedaliah sware to them, and to their men, and sayd vnto them, Feare not to be the seruants of the Caldees: dwell in the land, and serue the King of Babel, and ye shalbe well.
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 in the seuenth moneth Ishmael the sonne of Nethaniah the sonne of Elishama of the Kings seede, came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah, and he died, and so did he the Iewes, and the Caldees that were with him at Mizpah.
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 Then all ye people both small and great, and the captaines of the armie arose, and came to Egypt: for they were afraide of the Caldees.
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 Notwithstanding in the seuen and thirtieth yeere after Iehoiachin King of Iudah was caried away, in the twelft moneth and the seuen and twentieth day of the moneth, Euil-merodach King of Babel in the yeere that hee began to reigne, did lift vp the head of Iehoiachin King of Iudah out of the 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 spake kindly to him, and set his throne aboue the throne of the Kings that were with him in Babel,
He always spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and honored him more than the other kings who had been taken/exiled to Babylon.
29 And changed his prison garments: and he did continually eate bread before him, all the dayes 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 his portion was a continual portion giuen him by the King, euery day a certaine, all the dayes 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.
