2 Kings 25

1And it happened 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 army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it and built a siege wall around it.

2So the city remained under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

3On the ninth day of the month, the famine became severe in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.

4Then the city was breached, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were around the city on every side; and the king went by the way of the Arabah.

5But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him.

6Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they pronounced judgment on him.

7They slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes, and he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him with bronze fetters, and brought him to Babylon.

8And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month—which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.

9He burned the house of Yahweh, the king's house, all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great house with fire.

10And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard tore down the walls of Jerusalem all around.

11Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile the rest of the people who remained in the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.

12But from the poorest of the land, the captain of the guard left some to be vinedressers and farmers.

13And the Chaldeans broke in pieces the bronze pillars that were in the house of Yahweh, and the stands, and the bronze sea that was in the house of Yahweh, and carried their bronze to Babylon.

14And the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the dishes, and all the bronze vessels with which they ministered—they took away.

15And the firepans and the bowls—what was gold, and what was silver—the captain of the guard took.

16As for the two pillars, the one Sea, and the stands that Solomon had made for the house of Yahweh, there was no weighing the bronze of all these vessels.

17The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a bronze capital was on it. The height of the capital was three cubits, with latticework and pomegranates all around on the capital, all of bronze. And the second pillar had the same, with the latticework.

18The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold.

19And from the city he took one official, who was appointed over the men of war, and five men from those who saw the king’s face, who were found in the city, and the scribe, the commander of the army, who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men from the people of the land who were found in the city.

20Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

21And the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was taken into exile from its land.

22As for the people who remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, he appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, over them.

23When all the commanders of the forces, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah: Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and Johanan son of Kareah, and Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite, they and their men.

24Gedaliah swore to them and to their men, and said to them, “Do not be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well for you.”

25And it happened in the seventh month that Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal seed, came with ten men, and they struck down Gedaliah, and he died, along with the Judeans and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.

26Then all the people, from the least to the greatest, and the commanders of the forces, arose and went to Egypt, because they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

27And it happened 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 Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of the prison.

28He spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon.

29And he changed his prison clothes, and he ate bread continually before him all the days of his life.

30And his allowance, a continual allowance, was given to him from the king, the portion for each day on its day, all the days of his life.