(Psalm 74:1–23; Psalm 79:1–13; 2 Kings 24:18–20; 2 Chronicles 36:11–14)
1
Zedekiah was a son of twenty-one years when he first began to reign. And he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. And the name of his mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah.(a)
2
And he did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, in accord with all that Jehoiakim had done.
3
And so the fury of the Lord was toward Jerusalem, and toward Judah, even until he cast them away from his face. And Zedekiah drew away from the king of Babylon.
4
And it happened that, in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, he and his entire army, came against Jerusalem. And they besieged it, and they built fortifications against it, on every side.
5
And the city was besieged, until the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.
6
Then, in the fourth month, on the ninth of the month, a famine gripped the city. And there was no nourishment for the people of the land.
7
And the city was broken, and all the men of war fled, and they departed from the city at night by way of the gate which is between the two walls, and which leads to the king’s garden, while the Chaldeans were besieging the city all around, and they went away by the road that leads to the wilderness.
8
But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king. And they overtook Zedekiah in the desert which is near Jericho. And all of his companions fled away from him.
9
And when they had captured the king, they led him away to the king of Babylon at Riblah, which is in the land of Hamath. And he spoke a judgment against him.
10
And the king of Babylon cut the throats of the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also killed all the leaders of Judah at Riblah.
11
And he plucked out the eyes of Zedekiah, and he bound him with shackles, and the king of Babylon led him away to Babylon, and he placed him in the prison house, even until the day of his death.
The Temple Destroyed
(2 Kings 25:8–17)
12
Then, in the fifth month, on the tenth of the month, which is the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the leader of the military, arrived. And he was standing before the king of Babylon at Jerusalem.
13
And he set fire to the house of the Lord, and to the house of the king, and to all the houses of Jerusalem. And every great house he burned with fire.
14
And the entire army of the Chaldeans, who were with the chief of the military, destroyed the entire wall all around Jerusalem.
15
Then Nebuzaradan, the leader of the military, took away some of the poor people, and some of the rest of the common people, who had remained in the city, and some of the fugitives, who had fled over to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.
16
Yet truly, some of the poor of the land, Nebuzaradan, the leader of the military, left behind as vinedressers and farmers.
17
The Chaldeans also broke apart the bronze pillars that were in the house of the Lord, and the bases, and the sea of brass that was in the house of the Lord. And they took all the brass of these things to Babylon.
18
And they took the cooking pots, and the hooks, and the psalteries, and the bowls, and the little mortars, and all the bronze vessels that had been used in the ministry.
19
And the chief of the military took the water pots, and the censers, and the pitchers, and the basins, and the lampstands, and the mortars, and the little cups, whatever was gold, for the gold, and whatever was silver, for the silver,
20
as well as the two pillars, and the one brass sea, and the twelve oxen of brass that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the Lord. There was no weight of brass left behind out of all these vessels.
21
Now concerning the pillars, one pillar was eighteen cubits high, and a cord of twelve cubits encircled it. Moreover, its thickness was four fingers, and the interior was hollow.
22
And heads of brass were upon both. And the height of one head was five cubits. And little nets with pomegranates were upon the heads all around, all of brass. The second pillar was similar, and the pomegranates.
23
And there were ninety-six pomegranates hanging down; and there were one hundred pomegranates in all, surrounded by the little nets.
Captives Carried to Babylon
(2 Kings 25:18–21)
24
And the chief of the military took Seraiah, the first priest, and Zephaniah, the second priest, and the three keepers of the vestibule.
25
He also took from the city one eunuch who was in charge of the men of war, and seven men among those who served before the face of the king, who were found in the city, and a scribe, a leader of the military, who tested the new recruits, and sixty men from the people of the land, who were found in the midst of the city.
26
Then Nebuzaradan, the chief of the military, took them, and he led them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
27
And the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death at Riblah, in the land of Hamath. And Judah was carried away from his land.
28
This is the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away: in the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Jews;
29
in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, eight hundred thirty-two souls from Jerusalem;
30
in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan, the chief of the military, carried away of the Jews seven hundred forty-five souls. Therefore, all the souls were four thousand six hundred.
Jehoiachin Released from Prison
(2 Kings 25:27–30)
31
And it happened that, in the thirty-seventh year of the transmigration of Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth of the month, Evilmerodach, the king of Babylon, in the very first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, and he brought him out of the prison house.
32
And he spoke with him for good, and he set his throne above the thrones of the kings who were after him in Babylon.
33
And he changed his prison garments, and he ate bread in his sight always, all the days of his life.
34
And for his meals, a continual provision was allotted to him by the king of Babylon, a measure for every single day, until the day of his death, all the days of his life.
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