1 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king; he was king for eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

2 And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as Jehoiakim had done.

3 And because of the wrath of the Lord this came about in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had sent them away from before him: and Zedekiah took up arms against the king of Babylon.

4 And in the ninth year of his rule, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, came against Jerusalem with all his army and took up his position before it, building earthworks all round it.

5 So the town was shut in by their forces till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

6 In the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the store of food in the town was almost gone, so that there was no food for the people of the land.

7 Then an opening was made in the wall of the town, and all the men of war went in flight out of the town by night through the doorway between the two walls which was by the king's garden; (now the Chaldaeans were stationed round the town:) and they went by the way of the Arabah.

8 And the Chaldaean army went after King Zedekiah and overtook him on the other side of Jericho, and all his army went in flight from him in every direction.

9 Then they made the king a prisoner and took him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath to be judged.

10 And the king of Babylon put the sons of Zedekiah to death before his eyes: and he put to death all the rulers of Judah in Riblah.

11 And he put out Zedekiah's eyes; and the king of Babylon, chaining him in iron bands, took him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.

12 Now in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the armed men, a servant of the king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem.

13 And he had the house of the Lord and the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, burned with fire:

14 And the walls round Jerusalem were broken down by the Chaldaean army which was with the captain.

15 Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the armed men, took away as prisoners the rest of the people who were still in the town, and those who had given themselves up to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the workmen.

16 But Nebuzaradan, the captain of the armed men, let the poorest of the land go on living there, to take care of the vines and the fields.

17 And the brass pillars which were in the house of the Lord, and the wheeled bases and the great brass water-vessel in the house of the Lord, were broken up by the Chaldaeans, who took all the brass away to Babylon.

18 And the pots and the spades and the scissors for the lights and the spoons, and all the brass vessels used in the Lord's house, they took away.

19 And the cups and the fire-trays and the basins and the pots and the supports for the lights and the spoons and the wide basins; the gold of the gold vessels, and the silver of the silver vessels, the captain of the armed men took away.

20 The two pillars, the great water-vessel, and the twelve brass oxen which were under it, and the ten wheeled bases, which King Solomon had made for the house of the Lord: the brass of all these vessels was without weight.

21 And as for the pillars, one pillar was eighteen cubits high, and twelve cubits measured all round, and it was as thick as a man's hand: it was hollow.

22 And there was a crown of brass on it: the crown was five cubits high, circled with a network and apples all of brass; and the second pillar had the same.

23 There were ninety-six apples on the outside; the number of apples all round the network was a hundred.

24 And the captain of the armed men took Seraiah, the chief priest, and Zephaniah, the second priest, and the three door-keepers;

25 And from the town he took the unsexed servant who was over the men of war, and seven of the king's near friends who were in the town, and the scribe of the captain of the army, who was responsible for getting the people of the land together in military order, and sixty men of the people of the land who were in the town.

26 These Nebuzaradan, the captain of the armed men, took with him to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

27 And the king of Babylon put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was taken prisoner away from his land.

28 These are the people whom Nebuchadrezzar took away prisoner: in the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Jews:

29 And in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar he took away as prisoners from Jerusalem eight hundred and thirty-two persons:

30 In the twenty-third year of Nebuchadrezzar, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the armed men, took away as prisoners seven hundred and forty-five of the Jews: all the persons were four thousand and six hundred.

31 And in the thirty-seventh year after Jehoiachin, king of Judah, had been taken prisoner, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, Evil-merodach, king of Babylon, in the first year after he became king, took Jehoiachin, king of Judah, out of prison.

32 And he said kind words to him and put his seat higher than the seats of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.

33 And his prison clothing was changed, and he was a guest at the king's table every day for the rest of his life.

34 And for his food, the king gave him a regular amount every day till the day of his death, for the rest of his life.

1 Zedequias tinha vinte e um anos quando se tornou rei, e reinou onze anos em Jerusalém. O nome de sua mãe era Hamutal (filha de Jeremias de Libna). Mas foi um mau rei, tal como tinha sido também Joaquim.

3 As coisas tornaram-se muito más em Jerusalém e em Judá, por causa da ira do Senhor, e ele os baniu da sua presença edequias revoltou-se contra o rei de Babilónia.

4 No dia quinze de Janeiro do nono ano do reinado de Zedequias, Nabucodonozor apareceu com todo o seu exército contra Jerusalém, e construiu fortificações para ataque, em toda a volta, estabelecendo um cerco à cidade, durante dois anos

6 Finalmente, em meados de Julho , quando a fome na cidade era já gravíssima, com as reservas de alimento inteiramente esgotadas, os soldados da cidade abriram um buraco na muralha e fugiram, de noite; essa passagem foi feita entre as duas muralhas, perto dos jardins do rei. Eles fizeram isso porque a cidade estava toda cercada pelos caldeus. E assim procuraram fugir através dos campos, em direcção a Arabá.

8 Mas os caldeus perseguiram-nos e apanharam o rei Zedequias nuns campos perto de Jericó; aliás, todos os seus soldados se tinham dispersado, abandonando-o

9 Trouxeram-no então à presença do rei de Babilónia, que se tinha instalado na cidade de Ribla, no reino de Hamate, e foi submetido a um julgamento

10 Obrigou-o depois a ver os seus própios filhos e os nobres de Judá serem mortos, ali à sua vista; seguidamente arrancou-lhe os olhos, levando-o depois, em cadeias, para Babilónia, pondo-o numa prisão para o resto da vida.

12 No dia dezassete de Agosto do décimo nono ano do reinado de Nabucodonozor, rei de Babilónia, Nabuzaradão, comandante da guarda, chegou a Jerusalém. Pôs fogo ao templo e ao palácio real, assim como às casas maiores, e mandou os soldados deitar abaixo as muralhas da cidade.

15 Depois levou para Babilónia como cativos alguns dos mais pobres de entre o povo, com aqueles que tinham sobrevivido à destruição da cidade e os que tinham fugido a Zedequias e se tinham juntado ao exército de Babilónia e ainda os comerciantes

16 Mas deixou alguns outros, dos mais miseráveis do povo, para colherem os frutos dos campos, e como vinhateiros e lavradores.

17 Os babilónios derrubaram os dois grandes pilares de bronze que estavam à entrada do templo assim como as bases sobre as quais se apoiavam, mais o mar de bronze, e carregou tudo para Babilónia. Levaram igualmente todos os recipientes, talheres e utensílios usados no serviço do altar, assim como as bacias, perfumadoras e tudo o que era do serviço do templo. Foram também retirados de lá os incensários, os castiçais de ouro maciço e de prata, mais bacias e taças, tudo de ouro puro e de prata maciça.

20 O peso dos dois enormes pilares e do mar, assim como dos doze touros de base, era qualquer coisa de incalculável. Tinham sido feitos nos tempos do rei Salomão. Esses pilares eram, cada um, de nove metros de altura e seis de envergadura, ocos por dentro, sendo a espessura do metal oito centímetros.

22 No alto de cada uma das colunas havia capitéis de dois metros e meio de altura, com figuras gravadas - uma composição de romãs, também em bronze. Havia como que uma rede formada por 96 romãs, aos lados; e à volta havia mais cem.

24 O comandante da guarda levou também consigo, como prisioneiros, Seraías, o líder dos sacerdotes, Sofonias, seu assistente, os três chefes da guarda do templo, um dos oficiais do exército, sete conselheiros especiais do rei descobertos ainda na cidade, o secretário do comandante do exército judaico (que tinha a seu cargo o recrutamento militar) e ainda sessenta outras individualidades de relevo na vida judaica, que tinham sido encontrados escondidos. Levou-os ao rei de Babilónia, em Ribla, que os matou a todos. Foi assim que o exílio de Judá se completou

28 O número dos cativos levados para Babilónia no sétimo ano do reinado de Nabucodonozor foi de 3.023. Depois, onze anos mais tarde, levou mais 832; passados ainda mais cinco anos, enviou Nebuzaradão, seu comandante da guarda, e levou mais 745 - no total foram 4.600 os cativos.

31 Em trinta e um de Março , 37 anos após a prisão em Babilónia de Jeconias, rei de Judá, Evil-Merodaque, que se tornou rei de Babilónia nesse ano, mostrou-se generoso para com o rei Jeconias, tirou-o da prisão, falou-lhe gentilmente, e deu-lhe até a preferência sobre todos os outros reis que estavam em Babilónia, dando-lhes roupa nova, e alimentando-o da própria comida que era feita na cozinha do rei; e isso, todo o resto do tempo da sua vida.

34 Deu-lhe mais ainda um subsídio regular, para que pudesse atender às necessidades quotidianas, até ao dia da sua morte.