2 Kings 24:18-25:21

English Standard Version

Zedekiah Reigns in Judah

¹⁸^(A)Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was ^(B)Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. ¹⁹And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(C)according to all that Jehoiakim had done. ²⁰For because of the anger of the Lord it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast them out from his presence.

^(D)And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

Fall and Captivity of Judah

25 ^(E)And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, ^(F)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem and laid siege to it. ^(G)And they built siegeworks all around it. ²So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. ³On the ninth day of the fourth month ^(H)the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. ⁴Then 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, by ^(I)the king's garden, and ^(J)the Chaldeans were around the city. And they went in the direction of the ^(K)Arabah. ⁵But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him. ⁶Then they captured the king ^(L)and brought him up to the king of Babylon at ^(M)Riblah, and they passed sentence on him. ⁷They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, ^(N)and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains and took him to Babylon.

⁸^(O)In the fifth month, on ^(P)the seventh day of the month—that was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the captain of the bodyguard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. ⁹^(Q)And he burned the house of the Lord ^(R)and the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. ¹⁰And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, ^(S)broke down the walls around Jerusalem. ¹¹^(T)And the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile. ¹²But the captain of the guard left ^(U)some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.

¹³^(V)And the pillars ^(W)of bronze that were in the house of the Lord, and ^(X)the stands and ^(Y)the bronze sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces and carried the bronze to Babylon. ¹⁴^(Z)And they took away the pots and the shovels and the snuffers and the dishes for incense and all the vessels of bronze used in the temple service, ¹⁵the fire pans also and the bowls. What was of gold the captain of the guard took away as gold, and what was of silver, as silver. ¹⁶As for the two pillars, the one sea, and the stands that Solomon had made for the house of the Lord, ^(AA)the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weight. ¹⁷^(AB)The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits,^[a] and on it was a capital of bronze. The height of the capital was three cubits. A latticework and pomegranates, all of bronze, were all around the capital. And the second pillar had the same, with the latticework.

¹⁸^(AC)And the captain of the guard took ^(AD)Seraiah the chief priest and ^(AE)Zephaniah the second priest and the three keepers of the threshold; ¹⁹and from the city he took an officer who had been in command of the men of war, and ^(AF)five men of the king's council who were found in the city; and the secretary of the commander 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. ²⁰And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at ^(AG)Riblah. ²¹And the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at ^(AH)Riblah in the land of Hamath. ^(AI)So Judah was taken into exile out of its land.