2Kings 25
25So on January 15, during the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon led his entire army against Jerusalem. They surrounded the city and built siege ramps against its walls.H8671H8141H4427H6224H2320H6218H2320H5019H4428H894H935H2428H3389H2583H1129H1785H54392Jerusalem was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah's reign.H5892H935H4692H6249H6240H8141H4428H66673By July 18 in the eleventh year of Zedekiah's reign, the famine in the city had become very severe, and the last of the food was entirely gone.H8672H2320H7458H2388H5892H3899H5971H7764Then a section of the city wall was broken down, and all the soldiers fled. Since the city was surrounded by the Babylonians, they waited for nightfall. Then they slipped through the gate between the two walls behind the king's garden and headed toward the Jordan Valley.H5892H1234H582H4421H3915H1870H8179H2346H4428H1588H3778H5892H5439H3212H1870H61605But the Babylonian troops chased the king and caught him on the plains of Jericho, for his men had all deserted him and scattered.H2428H3778H7291H310H4428H5381H6160H3405H2428H63276They took him to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where they pronounced judgment upon Zedekiah.H8610H4428H5927H4428H894H7247H1696H49417They made Zedekiah watch as they slaughtered his sons. Then they gouged out Zedekiah's eyes, bound him in bronze chains, and led him away to Babylon.H7819H1121H6667H5869H5786H5869H6667H631H5178H5178H935H8948On August 14 of that year, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar's reign, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard and an official of the Babylonian king, arrived in Jerusalem.H2549H2320H7651H2320H8672H6240H8141H8141H4428H5019H4428H894H935H5018H7227H2876H5650H4428H894H33899He burned down the Temple of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He destroyed all the important buildings in the city.H8313H1004H3068H4428H1004H1004H3389H1419H1004H8313H78410Then he supervised the entire Babylonian army as they tore down the walls of Jerusalem on every side.H2428H3778H7227H2876H5422H2346H3389H543911Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, then took as exiles the rest of the people who remained in the city, the defectors who had declared their allegiance to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the population.H3499H5971H7604H5892H5307H5307H4428H894H3499H1995H5018H7227H2876H154012But the captain of the guard allowed some of the poorest people to stay behind in Judah to care for the vineyards and fields.H7227H2876H7604H1803H776H3755H3009H146113The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars in front of the LORD's Temple, the bronze water carts, and the great bronze basin called the Sea, and they carried all the bronze away to Babylon.H5982H5178H1004H3068H4350H5178H3220H1004H3068H3778H7665H5375H5178H89414They also took all the ash buckets, shovels, lamp snuffers, dishes, and all the other bronze articles used for making sacrifices at the Temple.H5518H3257H4212H3709H3627H5178H8334H394715Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, also took the incense burners and basins, and all the other articles made of pure gold or silver.H4289H4219H2091H2091H3701H3701H7227H2876H394716The weight of the bronze from the two pillars, the Sea, and the water carts was too great to be measured. These things had been made for the LORD's Temple in the days of King Solomon.H8147H5982H259H3220H4350H8010H6213H1004H3068H5178H3627H3808H494817Each of the pillars was 27 feet tall. The bronze capital on top of each pillar was 7 1/2 feet As in parallel texts at 1 Kgs 7.16, 2 Chr 3.15, and Jer 52.22, all of which read 5 cubits [2.3 meters]; Hebrew reads 3 cubits, which is 4.5 feet or 1.4 meters high and was decorated with a network of bronze pomegranates all the way around.H6967H259H5982H8083H6240H520H3805H5178H6967H3805H7969H520H7639H7416H3805H5439H5178H8145H5982H763918Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took with him as prisoners Seraiah the high priest, Zephaniah the priest of the second rank, and the three chief gatekeepers.H7227H2876H3947H8304H7218H3548H6846H4932H3548H7969H8104H559219And from among the people still hiding in the city, he took an officer who had been in charge of the Judean army; five of the king's personal advisers; the army commander's chief secretary, who was in charge of recruitment; and sixty other citizens.H5892H3947H259H5631H6496H582H4421H2568H582H7200H4428H6440H4672H5892H8269H5608H6635H6633H5971H776H8346H376H5971H776H4672H589220Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took them all to the king of Babylon at Riblah.H5018H7227H2876H3947H3212H4428H894H724721And there at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon had them all put to death. So the people of Judah were sent into exile from their land.H4428H894H5221H4191H7247H776H2574H3063H1540H12722Then King Nebuchadnezzar appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan as governor over the people he had left in Judah.H5971H7604H776H3063H5019H4428H894H7604H1436H1121H296H1121H8227H648523When all the army commanders and their men learned that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor, they went to see him at Mizpah. These included Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jezaniah son of the Maacathite, and all their men.H8269H2428H582H8085H4428H894H1436H6485H935H1436H4709H3458H1121H5418H3110H1121H7143H8304H1121H8576H5200H2970H1121H4602H58224Gedaliah vowed to them that the Babylonian officials meant them no harm. "Don't be afraid of them. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and all will go well for you," he promised.H1436H7650H582H559H3372H5650H3778H3427H776H5647H4428H894H319025But in midautumn of that year, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and grandson of Elishama, who was of the royal family, went to Mizpah with ten men and killed Gedaliah. He also killed all the Judeans and Babylonians who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah.H7637H2320H3458H1121H5418H1121H476H2233H4410H935H6235H582H5221H1436H4191H3064H3778H470926Then all the people of Judah, from the least to the greatest, as well as the army commanders, fled in panic to Egypt, for they were afraid of what the Babylonians would do to them.H5971H6996H1419H8269H2428H6965H935H4714H3372H6440H377827In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, Evil-merodach ascended to the Babylonian throne. He was kind to Jehoiachin and released him from prison on April 2 of that year.H7651H7970H8141H1546H3078H4428H3063H8147H6240H2320H7651H6242H2320H192H4428H894H8141H4427H5375H7218H3078H4428H3063H1004H360828He spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and gave him a higher place than all the other exiled kings in Babylon.H1696H2896H5414H3678H3678H4428H89429He supplied Jehoiachin with new clothes to replace his prison garb and allowed him to dine in the king's presence for the rest of his life.H8132H3608H899H398H3899H8548H6440H3117H241630So the Babylonian king gave him a regular food allowance as long as he lived.H737H8548H737H5414H4428H3117H3117H1697H3117H3117H2416
New Living Translation (NLT). Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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, during the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon led his entire army against Jerusalem. They surrounded the city and built siege ramps against its walls.H8671
