2 Kings 25

1In the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came—he and his entire army—against Jerusalem; they encamped against it and built a fort around it.

2The city was under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

3On the ninth of the month the famine grew strong in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.

4The city was breached, and all the warriors fled at night by way of the gate between the two walls, which was beside the king's garden, while the Chaldeans pressed against the city all around; then the king went by the route to the Arabah.

5The Chaldean army chased after the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army scattered from him.

6They seized the king and brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they passed judgment on him.

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

8In the fifth month, on the seventh of the month—which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, chief of the guards, servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.

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

10All the Chaldean army with the captain of the guard broke down the walls of Jerusalem all around.

11Nebuzaradan the chief of the guards exiled the rest of the people remaining in the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.

12But the chief of the guards left some of the land's poor as vinedressers and farmers.

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

14They took the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the spoons, and all the bronze vessels in which they served.

15The captain of the guards took the firepans, the bowls, gold in gold, and silver in silver.

16The two pillars, the one sea, and the bases that Solomon made for the house of Yahweh—all the bronze of these vessels had no weight.

17One pillar stood eighteen cubits high, topped by a bronze capital three cubits tall, encircled by network and pomegranates—all bronze—and the second pillar matched it, with network on it.

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

19From the city he took one official who oversaw the men of war, five men from those who saw the king's face who were found in the city, the scribe, captain of the army who enrolled the people of the land, and sixty men from the people of the land who were found in the city.

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

21The king of Babylon struck them and killed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and exiled Judah from its land.

22He appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan over the people left in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left.

23When all the captains 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, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite—they and their men.

24Gedaliah swore to them and their men and said to them, "Do not fear the servants of the Chaldeans. Remain in the land, serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you."

25In the seventh month Ishmael son of Nethaniah son of Elishama, from the royal line, came with ten men and struck Gedaliah so he died, along with the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.

26All the people, from small to great, and the captains of the forces arose and went to Egypt, for they feared the Chaldeans.

27In the thirty-seventh year of Jehoiachin's captivity as king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah from the prison house.

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

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

30His allowance was a continual allowance given to him by the king, a daily portion day by day, for all the days of his life.