The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Kings 25
1 In the ninth year of his reign, in the
tenth month, in the tenth day ofthe month,
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he
and all his army, against Jerusalem, and
encamped against it; and they built forts
against it around it.
2 So the city was besieged until the
eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
3 On the ninth day of the fourth month,
the famine was severe in the city, so that
there was no bread for the people of the
land.
4 Then a breach was made in the city,
and all the men of war fled by night by
the way of the gate between the two walls,
which was by the king’s garden (now the
Chaldeans were against the city around
it); and the king went by the way of the
Arabah.
5 But the Chaldean army pursued the
king, and overtook him in the plains of
Jericho; and all his army was scattered
from him.
6 Then they captured the king and carried him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they
passed judgment on him.
7 They killed Zedekiah’s sons before his
eyes, then put out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound
him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon.
8 Now in the fifth month, on the seventh
day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king
of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of
the guard, a servant ofthe king of Babylon,
came to Jerusalem.
9 He burned Yahweh’s house, the king’s
house, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He
burned every great house with fire.
10 All the army of the Chaldeans, who
were with the captain of the guard, broke
down the walls around Jerusalem.
11 Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard
carried away captive the rest of the people
who were leftinthe city andthose whohad
deserted to the king ofBabylon—allthe rest
of the multitude.
12 But the captain of the guard left some
of the poorest of the land to work the vineyards and fields.
13 The Chaldeans broke up the pillars of
bronze that were in Yahweh’s house and
the bases and the bronze sea that were in
Yahweh’s house, and carried the bronze
pieces to Babylon.
14 They took away the pots, the shovels,
the snuffers, the spoons, and all the vessels
of bronze with which they ministered.
15 The captain of the guard took away
the fire pans, the basins, that which was of
gold, for gold, and that which was of silver,
for silver.
16 The two pillars, the one sea, and the
bases, which Solomon had made for Yahweh’s house, the bronze of all these vessels
was not weighed.
17 The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits,† and a capital of bronze was
on it. The height of the capital was three
cubits, with network and pomegranates
on the capital around it, all of bronze; and
the second pillar with its network was like
these.
18 The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second
priest, and the three keepers of the threshold;
19 and out of the city he took an officer
who was set over the men of war; and
five men of those who saw the king’s face,
who were found in the city; and the scribe,
the captain of the army, who mustered the
people of the land, and sixty men of the
people of the land who were found in the
city.
20 Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard
took them, and brought them to the king of
Babylon to Riblah.
21 The king of Babylon attacked them
and put them to death at Riblah in the land
of Hamath. So Judah was carried away
captive out of his land.
22 As for the people who were left in the
land ofJudah whom Nebuchadnezzar king
of Babylon had left, even over them he
made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son
of Shaphan, governor.
23 Now when all the captains of the
forces, they and their men, heard that the
king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even
Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan the
son of Kareah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah
the son of the Maacathite, they and their
men.
24 Gedaliah swore to them and to their
men, and said to them, “Don’t be afraid
because of the servants of the Chaldeans.
Dwell in the land and serve the king of
Babylon, and it will be well with you.”
25 But in the seventh month, Ishmael the
son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of
the royal offspring came, and ten men with
him, and struck Gedaliah so that he died,
with the Jews and the Chaldeans that were
with him at Mizpah.
26 All the people, both small and great,
and the captains of the forces arose and
came to Egypt; for they were afraid of the
Chaldeans.
27 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, Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign,
released Jehoiachin king of Judah out of
prison,
28 and he spoke kindly to him and set his
throne above the throne of the kings who
were with him in Babylon,
29 and changed his prison garments. Jehoiachin ate bread
before him continually all the days of his life;
30 and for his allowance, there was a
continual allowance given him from the
king, every day a portion, allthe days of his
life.