Nebuchadnezzar Besieges Jerusalem
And it was in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came — he and all his force — against Jerusalem; and he camped against it, and they built a siege wall against it all around.
And the city came under siege, until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
On the ninth of the fourth month, the famine grew strong in the city; and there was no bread for the people of the land.
And the city was broken open; and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which is by the garden of the king — the Chaldeans being against the city all around — and he went the way of the Arabah.
And the force of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and they overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his force was scattered from him.
And they seized the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah; and they spoke judgment with him.
And the sons of Zedekiah they slaughtered before his eyes; and the eyes of Zedekiah he blinded, and bound him with the double bronze chains, and brought him to Babylon.
The Temple Destroyed
And in the fifth month, on the seventh of the month — that is, the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon — Nebuzaradan, the chief of the guard, servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
And he burned the house of the LORD, and the house of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned with fire.
And the walls of Jerusalem, all around, all the force of the Chaldeans who were with the chief of the guard tore down.
And the rest of the people who were left in the city, and the deserters who had fallen away to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude, Nebuzaradan, the chief of the guard, exiled.
But some of the poorest of the land the chief of the guard left, as vinedressers and field workers.
And the pillars of bronze that were in the house of the LORD, and the stands, and the sea of bronze that was in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans broke in pieces; and they carried their bronze to Babylon.
And the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the dishes, and all the vessels of bronze with which they ministered, they took.
And the firepans and the bowls — what was gold, in gold, and what was silver, in silver — the chief of the guard took.
The two pillars, the one sea, and the stands that Solomon had made for the house of the LORD — there was no weighing the bronze of all these vessels.
Eighteen cubits was the height of the one pillar, and the capital on it was bronze, and the height of the capital was three cubits; and the latticework and pomegranates on the capital all around — all bronze. And like these the second pillar had, on the latticework.
Captives Carried to Babylon
And the chief of the guard took Seraiah the head priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold.
And from the city he took one eunuch who was overseer of the men of war; and five men from those who saw the face of the king, who were found in the city; and the scribe of the commander 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.
And Nebuzaradan, the chief of the guard, took them and led them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
And the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah, in the land of Hamath. And Judah was exiled from its own soil.
Gedaliah Governs in Judah
And the people who were left in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had left — he appointed over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan.
And all the commanders of the forces — they and the men — heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah; and they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah: Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite — they and their men.
And Gedaliah swore to them and to their men, and said to them: “Do not fear the servants of the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon — and it will go well for you.”
The Murder of Gedaliah
And it was in the seventh month that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal seed, came — and ten men with him — and they struck down Gedaliah, and he died; and the Judeans and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.
And all the people rose, from small to great, and the commanders of the forces, and they came to Egypt — for they were afraid because of the Chaldeans.
Jehoiachin Released from Prison
And it was in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh of the month, that Evil-merodach, king of Babylon, in the year he became king, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, out of the prison house.
And he spoke good things with him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon.
And he changed his prison garments; and he ate bread before him continually, all the days of his life.
And his allowance — a continual allowance — was given him from the king, each day’s portion in its day, all the days of his life.