2 Kings
Chapter 25
1 In the ninth year of his rule, in the tenth month, on the tenth day, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon and all his army came to Jerusalem, surrounded it, and built siege works all around it.
2 The city was under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah’s reign.
3 On the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was severe, and there was no bread for the people of the country.
4 The city’s defenses were breached, and all the soldiers escaped at night through a gate between two walls near the king’s garden. The enemy surrounded the city, and the king fled toward the open country.
5 The Chaldean army chased the king and caught him in the flat lands of Jericho; all his soldiers were scattered away from him.
6 They captured the king and took him to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where they passed judgment on him.
7 They killed Zedekiah’s sons in front of him, blinded Zedekiah, tied him with bronze chains, and took him to Babylon.
8 In the fifth month, on the seventh day, which was in king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon’s nineteenth year of rule, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards and a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
9 He burned down God’s house, the king’s house, all of Jerusalem’s houses, and every important person’s house with fire.
10 The entire Babylonian army, along with the captain of the guard, tore down the walls of Jerusalem all around.
11 The captain of the guard, Nebuzaradan, took away the remaining people in the city, those who had run away to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the people.
12 The guard captain let some poor people stay to work as grape growers and farmers.
13 The Chaldeans broke the bronze pillars, stands, and the large bronze basin in God’s house into pieces and took the bronze to Babylon.
14 They took away the pots, shovels, snuffers, spoons, and all the brass items used in service.
15 The guard captain took away the firepans, bowls, and all things made of gold and silver.
16 The two pillars, one large bowl, and the stands that Solomon made for God’s house; all these bronze items were too heavy to weigh.
17 One pillar was eighteen cubits tall, with a brass top three cubits high. It had braided designs and brass pomegranates all around the top. The second pillar was the same with braided work.
18 The guard leader took Seraiah, the main priest, Zephaniah, the second priest, and the three door guards.
19 He took from the city a military officer, five of the king’s advisors found there, the army’s chief secretary who enrolled the land’s people, and sixty citizens also found in the city.
20 Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
21 The king of Babylon attacked and killed them in Riblah, in the land of Hamath. So Judah was taken away from their land.
22 As for the people left in Judah, whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had not taken, he put Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, in charge over them.
23 When all the army leaders and their soldiers learned that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor, they went to see Gedaliah in Mizpah. This group included Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Careah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth from Netophah, and Jaazaniah son of a Maachathite, along with their men.
24 Gedaliah promised them and their men and said to them, “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans: live in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and you will be fine.”
25 In the seventh month, Ishmael, Nethaniah’s son, from the royal family, came with ten men and killed Gedaliah. He also killed the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah.
26 All the people, important and not, and the army leaders got up and went to Egypt because they were scared of the Chaldeans.
27 In the thirty-seventh year of King Jehoiachin of Judah’s captivity, on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month, Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, freed King Jehoiachin of Judah from prison.
28 He spoke nicely to him and put his throne higher than the thrones of the kings with him in Babylon.
29 He changed his prison clothes and always ate bread in front of him for the rest of his life.
30 The king gave him a regular daily amount for every day of his life.