1 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 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 Jehovah, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

3 For although the anger of Jehovah was upon Jerusalem and Judah (until He had cast them out from His presence), Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

4 And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it and built siege walls against it all around.

5 So the city was under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

6 And in the fourth month, in the ninth of the month, the famine was so severe in the city, so that there was no food for the people of the land.

7 Then the city was broken into, and all the men of war fled and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden. (And the Chaldeans lay in wait all around the city.) And they went by the way of the plain.

8 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And all his army was scattered from him.

9 So they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon, to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he passed judgment against him.

10 And the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. He also killed all the rulers of Judah in Riblah.

11 And he put out the eyes of Zedekiah. And the king of Babylon bound him in chains, and brought him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.

12 And in the fifth month, on the tenth of the month, (which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, who served the king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem.

13 And he burned the house of Jehovah, and the king’s house. And he burned with fire all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great ones.

14 And all the army of the Chaldeans, with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around.

15 And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took captive some of the poor of the people, and the rest of the people who remained in the city, and those who deserted, who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.

16 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poor of the land as vinedressers and farmers.

17 Also the Chaldeans broke the pillars of bronze that were in the house of Jehovah, and the bases, and the bronze sea in the house of Jehovah, and carried all the bronze from them to Babylon.

18 They also took away the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of bronze with which they ministered.

19 And the captain of the guard took away the basins, and the firepans, and the bowls, and the pots, and the lampstands, and the spoons, and the cups; what was gold, in gold; and what was silver, in silver.

20 The two pillars, one sea, and twelve bronze bulls that were under the bases, which King Solomon had made in the house of Jehovah; the bronze of all these vessels was without weight.

21 And concerning the pillars: the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits. And a measuring line of twelve cubits went around it, and its thickness was four fingers; it was hollow.

22 And a capital of bronze was on it. And the height of one capital was five cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capitals all around, all of bronze. The second pillar also, and the pomegranates, were like these.

23 And there were ninety-six pomegranates on a side; all the pomegranates on the network were a hundred all around.

24 And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers.

25 He also took out of the city an official who was in charge of the men of war; and seven men from those who were close to the king, who were found in the city; and the chief scribe of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the middle of the city.

26 And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah.

27 And the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was taken captive out of his own land.

28 These are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar took captive: in the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Jews;

29 in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he took captive from Jerusalem eight hundred and thirty-two persons;

30 in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took captive seven hundred and forty-five persons of the Jews. All the persons were four thousand and six hundred.

31 And it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the twenty-fifth of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon in the first year of his reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him out of prison,

32 and spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon.

33 And he changed from his prison garments, and he ate bread before him all the days of his life.

34 And as for his allowance: a continual allowance was given him from the king of Babylon, the matter day by day, until the day of his death, all the days of his life.