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.
It happened that in the ninth year of the reign of King Zedekiah, in the tenth month, and on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem. He camped opposite it, and they built a siege wall around it.
2 They did that for two years.
So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah's reign.
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 fourth month of that year, the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food 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.
Then the city was broken into, and all the fighting men fled at night by the way of the gate between the two walls, by the king's garden, although the Chaldeans were all around the city. The king went in the direction of the Arabah.
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.
But the army of Chaldeans pursued King Zedekiah and overtook him in the plains of the Jordan River valley near Jericho. All his army was scattered away from 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.
They captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where they passed sentence on 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.
As for Zedekiah's sons, they slaughtered them before his eyes. Then he put out his eyes, bound him in bronze chains, 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.
Now in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, a servant of the king of Babylon and commander of his bodyguards, came 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.
He burned the house of Yahweh, the king's palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem; also every important building in the city he burned.
10 Then Nebuzaradan supervised all the soldiers of the Babylonian army as they tore down the walls of Jerusalem.
As for all the walls around Jerusalem, all the army of the Babylonians who were under the commander of the bodyguard destroyed them.
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.
As for the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the remainder of the population—Nebuzaradan, the commander of the bodyguard, took them away into exile.
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 commander of the bodyguard did leave some of the poorest of the land to work the vineyards and fields.
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.
As for the bronze pillars that were in the house of Yahweh, and the stands and the bronze sea that were in the house of Yahweh, the Chaldeans broke them into pieces and carried the bronze back 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.
The pots, shovels, lamp trimmers, spoons, and all the utensils of bronze with which the priests had served in the temple—the Chaldeans took them all away.
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.
The pots for removing ashes and the bowls that were made of gold, and those made of silver—the captain of the king's guard took them away as well.
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].
The two pillars, the sea, and the stands that Solomon had made for the house of Yahweh contained more bronze than could be weighed.
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 the first pillar was eighteen cubits, and a capital of bronze was on top of it. The capital was three cubits high, with latticework and pomegranates all around on the capital, all made of bronze. The other pillar and its latticework were the same as the first.
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].
The commander of the bodyguard took Seraiah the chief priest, together with Zephaniah, the second priest, and the three gatekeepers.
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.
From the city he took prisoner an officer who was in charge of soldiers, and five men of those who advised the king, who were still in the city. He also took prisoner the king's army officer responsible for drafting men into the army, along with sixty important men from the land who were in the city.
20 Nebuzaradan took them all to the king of Babylon at Riblah [city].
Then Nebuzaradan, the commander of the bodyguard, took them and brought 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].
The king of Babylon put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. In this way, Judah went out of its land into exile.
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.
As for the people who remained in the land of Judah, those whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, he put Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, in charge of them.
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.
Now when all the commanders of the soldiers, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they went to Gedaliah at Mizpah. These men were Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maakathite—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.”
Gedaliah made an oath to them and to their men, and said to them, “Do not be afraid of the Chaldean officials. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go 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 son of Nethaniah son of Elishama, from the royal family, came with ten men and attacked Gedaliah. Gedaliah died, along with the men of Judah and the Babylonians 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.
Then all the people, from the least to the greatest, and the commanders of the soldiers, arose and went to Egypt, because they were afraid of the Babylonians.
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.
It happened later in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, that Awel-Marduk king of Babylon released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. This happened in the year that Awel-Marduk began to reign.
28 He always spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and honored him more than the other kings who had been taken/exiled to Babylon.
He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat more honorable than that of the other kings who 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.
Awel-Marduk removed Jehoiachin's prison clothes, and Jehoiachin ate regularly at the king's table for the rest 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.
A regular food allowance was given to him every day for the rest of his life.
