The Fall and Captivity of Judah
1 Now it came to pass 2 Chr. 36:17; Jer. 6:6; 34:2; Ezek. 4:2; 24:1, 2; Hab. 1:6in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around. 2 So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 3 By the ninth day of the 2 Kin. 6:24, 25; Is. 3:1; Jer. 39:2; Lam. 4:9, 10fourth month the famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.
4 Then Jer. 39:2the city wall was broken through, and all the men of war fled at night by way of the gate between two walls, which was by the king’s garden, even though the Chaldeans were still encamped all around against the city. And Jer. 39:4–7; Ezek. 12:12theking went by way of the plain. 5 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and they overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his army was scattered from him. 6 So they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon 2 Kin. 23:33; Jer. 52:9at Riblah, and they pronounced judgment on him. 7 Then they killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, Jer. 39:7; Ezek. 17:16put out the eyes of Zedekiah, bound him with bronze fetters, and took him to Babylon.
8 And in the fifth month, Jer. 52:12on the seventh day of the month (which was2 Kin. 24:12the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), Jer. 39:9Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9 2 Kin. 25:13; 2 Chr. 36:19; Ps. 79:1; Jer. 7:14He burned the house of the LordJer. 39:8and the king’s house; all the houses of Jerusalem, that is, all the houses of the great, Jer. 17:27he burned with fire. 10 And all the army of the Chaldeans who werewith the captain of the guard 2 Kin. 14:13; Neh. 1:3broke down the walls of Jerusalem all around.
11 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive Is. 1:9; Jer. 5:19; 39:9the rest of the people who remained in the city and the defectors who had deserted to the king of Babylon, with the rest of the multitude. 12 But the captain of the guard 2 Kin. 24:14; Jer. 39:10; 40:7; 52:16left some of the poor of the land as vinedressers and farmers. 13 Jer. 52:17The bronze 1 Kin. 7:15pillars that were in the house of the Lord, and 1 Kin. 7:27the carts and 1 Kin. 7:23the bronze Sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and 2 Kin. 20:17; Jer. 27:19–22carried their bronze to Babylon. 14 They also took away Ex. 27:3; 1 Kin. 7:45the pots, the shovels, the trimmers, the spoons, and all the bronze utensils with which the priests ministered. 15 The firepans and the basins, the things of solid gold and solid silver, the captain of the guard took away. 16 The two pillars, one Sea, and the carts, which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord, 1 Kin. 7:47the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure. 17 1 Kin. 7:15–22; Jer. 52:21The height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the capital on it was of bronze. The height of the capital was three cubits, and the network and pomegranates all around the capital were all of bronze. The second pillar was the same, with a network.
18 Jer. 39:9–13; 52:12–16, 24And the captain of the guard took 1 Chr. 6:14; Ezra 7:1Seraiah the chief priest, Jer. 21:1; 29:25, 29Zephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers. 19 He also took out of the city an officer who had charge of the men of war, Esth. 1:14; Jer. 52:25five men of the king’s close associates who were found in the city, the chief recruiting officer of the army, who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land whowere found in the city. 20 So Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, took these and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 21 Then the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Lev. 26:33; Deut. 28:36, 64; 2 Kin. 23:27Thus Judah was carried away captive from its own land.
Gedaliah Made Governor of Judah
22 Then he made Gedaliah the son of 2 Kin. 22:12Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor over Is. 1:9; Jer. 40:5the people who remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left. 23 Now when all the Jer. 40:7–9captains of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan the son of Careah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men. 24 And Gedaliah took an oath before them and their men, and said to them, "Do not be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you."
25 But Jer. 41:1–3it happened in the seventh month that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal family, came with ten men and struck and killed Gedaliah, the Jews, as well as the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah. 26 And all the people, small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose 2 Kin. 19:31; Jer. 43:4–7and went to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.
Jehoiachin Released from Prison
27 2 Kin. 24:12, 15; Jer. 52:31–34Now it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, that Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, Gen. 40:13, 20released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. 28 He spoke kindly to him, and gave him a more prominent seat than those of the kings who were with him in Babylon. 29 So Jehoiachin changed from his prison garments, and he 2 Sam. 9:7ate bread regularly before the king all the days of his life. 30 And as for his provisions, therewas a regular ration given him by the king, a portion for each day, all the days of his life.