2 Kings 25
1 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.
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 They did that for two years.
And the city was enclosed and besieged, even until the eleventh year of king Zedekiah,
3 After Zedekiah had been ruling for eleven years, the (famine/shortage of food) had become very bad. All their food was gone.
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 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.
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 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.
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 The Babylonian soldiers took King Zedekiah to Riblah [city] in Babylon. There the king of Babylon decided what they would do to punish him.
Therefore, having apprehended him, they led the king to the king of Babylon at Riblah. And he was speaking with him in judgment.
7 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 Then Nebuzaradan supervised all the soldiers of the Babylonian army as they tore down the walls of Jerusalem.
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 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.
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 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.
But he left behind some vinedressers and farmers from the poor of the land.
13 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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].
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 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.
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 Nebuzaradan took with him to Babylon Seraiah the Supreme Priest, Zephaniah his assistant, and the three men who guarded the entrance [to the temple].
Also, the leader of the military took away Seraiah, the chief priest, and Zephaniah, the second priest, and three doorkeepers,
19 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.
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 Nebuzaradan took them all to the king of Babylon at Riblah [city].
Taking them, Nebuzaradan, the leader of the military, led them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
21 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].
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.”
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 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.
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 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.
And all the people, from small to great, and the leaders of the military, rising up, went away to Egypt, fearing the Chaldeans.
27 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.
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 He always spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and honored him more than the other kings who had been taken/exiled to Babylon.
And he spoke kindly to him. And he set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him at Babylon.
29 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.
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 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.
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.
