< 2 Kings 25 >
1 And it came to pass, in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came—he and all his force, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it, —and they built against it a siege wall, round about.
2 And the city came into the siege, —until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
3 On the ninth of the month, when the famine had become severe in the city, —and there had come to be no bread for the people of the land,
4 then was the city broken up, and all the men of war [fled] by night by way of the gate between the two walls, which is by the garden of the king, the Chaldeans being near the city round about, —and he went the way of the Waste Plain;
5 and the force of the Chaldeans, pursued, the king, and overtook him in the Waste Plains of Jericho, —and, all his force, was scattered from him.
6 So they seized the king, and brought him up unto the king of Babylon, at Riblah, —and they pronounced upon him sentence of judgment.
7 And, the sons of Zedekiah, they slew before his eyes, —and, the eyes of Zedekiah, put they out, and then bound him with fetters of bronze, and brought him into Babylon.
8 And, in the fifth month, on the seventh of the month, the same, was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, chief of the royal executioners, servant of the king of Babylon, to Jerusalem;
9 and burned the house of Yahweh, and the house of the king, —yea, all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great man’s house, burned he with fire.
10 And, the walls of Jerusalem round about, did all the force of the Chaldeans who were with the chief of the royal executioners, break down.
11 And, the residue of the people who were left in the city, and the disheartened who fell away unto the king of Babylon, and the residue of the multitude, did Nebuzaradan, chief of the royal executioners, carry away captive.
12 But, of the poorest of the land, did the chief of the royal executioners, leave, for vine-dressers and for husbandmen.
13 And, the pillars of bronze that were in the house of Yahweh, and the stands, and the sea of bronze which was in the house of Yahweh, the Chaldeans brake in pieces, and they carried away the bronze of them to Babylon;
14 and, the caldrons, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, even all the utensils of bronze wherewith ministration used to be made, did they take away;
15 and, the sprinkling pans and the dashing bowls which were of gold, in gold, and which were of silver, in silver, did, the chief of the royal executions, take away.
16 As for the two pillars the one sea and the stands which Solomon made for the house of Yahweh, without weight, was the bronze of all these things.
17 Eighteen cubits, was the height of each pillar, and, the capital thereupon was of bronze, and, the height of the capital, was three cubits, and, the lattice-work and pomegranates upon the capital round about, the whole, was of bronze; and, like these, had the second pillar, upon the lattice-work.
18 And the chief of the royal executioners took Seraiah the head priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, —and the three keepers of the entrance hall;
19 and, out of the city, took he one courtier who himself was set over the men of war, and five men of them who were wont to see the face of the king, who were found in the city, and the scribe—general of the army, who used to muster the people of the land, —and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the city;
20 and Nebuzaradan, chief of the royal executioners, took them, —and brought them unto the king of Babylon, at Riblah;
21 and the king of Babylon smote them and slew them in Riblah, in the land of Hamath, —and thus Judah disappeared from off their own soil.
22 But, as for the people who were left in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon left remaining, he set over them Gedaliah, son of Ahikam son of Shaphan.
23 And, when all the generals of the forces, they and the men, heard that the king of Babylon had given oversight unto Gedaliah, then came they in unto Gedaliah, at Mizpah, —even Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and Johanan son of Kareah, and Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of a Maacathite, they and their men.
24 And Gedaliah sware unto them, and to their men, and said to them, Do not fear because of the servants of the Chaldeans, —dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.
25 And it came to pass, in the seventh month, that Ishmael son of Nethaniah a son of Elishama, of the seed royal, came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah, that he died, —and the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.
26 Then arose all the people, both small and great, and the generals of the forces, and came into Egypt, —for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.
27 And it came to pass, in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, —that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, out of prison;
28 and he spake with him kind words, —and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon;
29 and changed his prison garments, —and he did eat bread continually before him, all the days of his life.
30 And, as his allowance, a continual portion, was given him, from the king, the provision of a day upon its own day, —all the days of his life.
