2 Kings 25

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1. 1In the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came with his entire army against Jerusalem. They set up camp around the city and built forts all around it.
2. 2The siege lasted until the 11th year of King Zedekiah's reign.
3. 3By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that there was no bread for the people of the land.
4. 4The city was breached, and all the soldiers fled by night through the gate between the two walls near the king's garden, even though the Chaldeans surrounded the city. The king went toward the plain.
5. 5But the Chaldean army chased after the king and caught up with him on the plains of Jericho, and his entire army had scattered from him.
6. 6They captured Zedekiah and brought him to King Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah, where judgment was passed on him.
7. 7They killed Zedekiah's sons right in front of him, then blinded Zedekiah, bound him with bronze chains, and took him to Babylon.
8. 8On the 7th day of the 5th month — the 19th year of King Nebuchadnezzar's reign — Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard and a servant of the king of Babylon, arrived in Jerusalem.
9. 9He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem, including every great man's house, with fire.
10. 10The entire Chaldean army under the captain of the guard tore down the walls surrounding Jerusalem.
11. 11Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, carried away the rest of the people left in the city, the fugitives who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the remnant of the multitude.
12. 12But the captain of the guard left behind some of the poorest people in the land to tend the vineyards and work the fields.
13. 13The Chaldeans smashed the bronze pillars in the house of the LORD, along with the bronze stands and the great bronze basin called the Sea. They carried all the bronze off to Babylon.
14. 14They also took the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes, and every bronze utensil used in temple worship.
15. 15The captain of the guard seized the firepans and the bowls — everything made of gold and everything made of silver.
16. 16The two pillars, the one Sea, and the stands that Solomon had made for the house of the LORD—the bronze of all these vessels was too much to weigh.
17. 17The height of one pillar was 18 cubits, and the capital on it was bronze. The height of the capital was 3 cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capital around, all of bronze. The second pillar was like these with network.
18. 18The captain of the guard arrested Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank, and the 3 doorkeepers of the temple.
19. 19From the city, he took an officer in charge of the soldiers, five men who were in the king's presence and found in the city, the chief scribe of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city.
20. 20Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took all of them and brought them to King Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah.
21. 21The king of Babylon struck them down and killed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away out of their land.
22. 22Over 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, as ruler.
23. 23When the military commanders and their men heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to him at Mizpah. Among them were Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Careah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of a Maachathite, along with their men.
24. 24Gedaliah gave them and their men a sworn oath, saying, "Don't be afraid of the Chaldeans. Settle down in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and things will go well for you."
25. 25But in the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of royal descent, came with ten men and struck down Gedaliah so that he died, along with the Jews and Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.
26. 26After that, all the people — from the least to the greatest — along with the military commanders, fled to Egypt because they were terrified of the Chaldeans.
27. 27In the 37th year of King Jehoiachin of Judah's exile, on the 27th day of the 12th month, Evilmerodach, king of Babylon, in the year he began to reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, out of prison.
28. 28He treated Jehoiachin with kindness and gave him a seat of honor above all the other exiled kings in Babylon.
29. 29Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes and ate regularly in the king's presence for the rest of his life.
30. 30The king provided him with a regular daily allowance to cover his needs for as long as he lived.