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.
And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, [that] Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon came, and all his host, against Jerusalem; and he encamped against it, and built a mound against it.
2 They did that for two years.
And the city was besieged until the eleventh year of king Sedekias on the ninth day of the month.
3 After Zedekiah had been ruling for eleven years, the (famine/shortage of food) had become very bad. All their food was gone.
And the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no 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 broken up, and all the men of war went forth by night, by the way of the gate between the walls, this is [the gate] of the king's garden: and the Chaldeans [were set] against the city round about: and [the king] went by the way of the plain.
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 force of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all his army was dispersed from about 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.
And they took the king, and brought him to the king of Babylon to Reblatha; and he gave judgment upon him.
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.
And he killed the sons of Sedekias before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Sedekias, and bound him in fetters, and brought him 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.
And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month (this [is] the nineteenth year of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon), came Nabuzardan, captain of the guard, who stood before the king of Babylon, to 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 burnt the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every house did the captain of the guard burn.
10 Then Nebuzaradan supervised all the soldiers of the Babylonian army as they tore down the walls of Jerusalem.
And the force of the Chaldeans pulled down the wall of Jerusalem round about.
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.
And Nabuzardan the captain of the guard removed the rest of the people that were left in the city, and the men who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.
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 the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to be vine-dressers and husbandmen.
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.
And the Chaldeans broke to pieces the brazen pillars that were in the house of the Lord, and the bases, and the brazen sea that was in the house of the Lord, and carried their 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.
And the caldrons, and the shovels, and the bowls, and the censers, and all the brazen vessels with which they minister, he took.
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 captain of the guard took the fire-pans, and the gold and silver bowls.
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].
Two pillars, and one sea, and the bases which Solomon made for the house of the Lord: there was no weight of the brass of all the vessels.
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.
The height of one pillar [was] eighteen cubits, and the chapiter upon it was of brass: and the height of the chapiter was three cubits: the border, and the pomegranates on the chapiter round about were all of brass: and so it was with the second pillar with its border.
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].
And the captain of the guard took Saraias the high-priest, and Sophonias the second in order, and the 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 they took out of the city one eunuch who was commander of the men of war, and five men that saw the face of the king, that were found in the city, and the secretary of the commander-in-chief, who took account of the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land that were found in the city.
20 Nebuzaradan took them all to the king of Babylon at Riblah [city].
And Nabuzardan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Reblatha.
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 Reblatha in the land of Aemath. So Juda was carried 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.
And [as for] the people that were left in the land of Juda, whom Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon left, even over them he set Godolias son of Achicam son of Saphan.
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 all the captains of the host, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had [thus] appointed Godolias, and they came to Godolias to Massephath, both Ismael the son of Nathanias, and Jona son of Careth, and Saraias, son of Thanamath the Netophathite, and Jezonias son of a Machathite, they and their men.
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 Godolias swore to them and their men, and said to them, Fear not the incursion of the Chaldeans; dwell 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.
And it came to pass in the seventh month [that] Ismael son of Nathanias son of Helisama, of the seed royal, came, and ten men with him, and he struck Godolias, that he died, [him] and the Jews and the Chaldeans that were with him in Massepha.
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, great and small rose up, [they] and the captains of the forces, and went into Egypt; because they were afraid of 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.
And it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the carrying away of Joachim king of Juda, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, [that] Evialmarodec king of Babylon in the [first] year of his reign lifted up the head of Joachim king of Juda, and brought him out of his prison-house.
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 set his throne above the thrones of the kings that were with him in 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 changed his prison garments: and he ate bread continually before him 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.
And his portion, a continual portion, was given him out of the house of the king, a daily rate for every day all the days of his life.
