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52 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.

And he did evil in the eyes of the LORD, the same as all that Jehoiakim had done.

For the following happened in Jerusalem and Judah at that time, until He had cast them out from His presence, because of the wrath of the LORD. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babel.

Now, in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, the tenth day of the month, came Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babel, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it and built forts against it all around.

So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

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

Then, the city was broken up. And all the men of war fled and went out of the city by night, by way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden (though the Chaldeans were near the city, all around). And they went by way of the wilderness.

But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king and took Zedekiah in the desert of Jericho. And all the army was scattered from him.

Then they took the king and carried him up to the king of Babel, to Riblah, in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgment upon him.

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

11 Then, he put out the eyes of Zedekiah. And the king of Babel bound him in chains and carried him to Babel and put him in prison until the day of his death.

12 Now, in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month (which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babel) came Nebuzaradan, chief steward, who stood before the king of Babel in Jerusalem

13 and burnt the House of the LORD and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem. And he burnt all the great houses with fire.

14 And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the chief steward broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around.

15 Then, Nebuzaradan the chief steward carried away captive some of the poor people, and the rest of the people who remained in the city, and those who had fled and fallen to the king of Babel, with the rest of the multitude.

16 But Nebuzaradan the chief steward left some of the poor of the land to dress the vines and to till the land.

17 Also, the bronze pillars that were in the House of the LORD, and the pedestals, and the bronze sea that was in the House of the LORD, the Chaldeans broke. And they carried all their bronze to Babel.

18 Also, the pots and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the basins, and the incense dishes, and all the bronze vessels with which they ministered, they took away.

19 And the bowls and the ashpans and the basins and the pots and the candlesticks and the incense dishes and the cups—all that was of gold and all that was of silver—the chief steward took away

20 with the two pillars, one sea, and twelve bronze bulls that were under the bases which King Solomon had had made for the House of the LORD. The bronze of all these vessels was without measure.

21 And concerning the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits. It measured twelve cubits around and its thickness was four fingers (it was hollow).

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

23 And there were ninety-six pomegranates per side. All the pomegranates, all around the network, were one hundred.

24 And the chief steward took Seraiah the High Priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the door.

25 He also took a eunuch out of the city who had oversight of the men of war, and seven men who were in the king’s presence who were found in the city, and the principal quartermaster of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city.

26 Nebuzaradan, the chief steward, took them and brought them to the king of Babel, to Riblah.

27 And the king of Babel struck them and killed them in Riblah, in the land of Hamath. Thus, Judah was carried away captive out of his own land.

28 These are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive in the seventh year: three thousand twenty-three Jews.

29 In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty-two people.

30 In the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the chief steward carried away captive seven hundred forty-five Jewish people. All together there were four thousand six hundred.

31 And in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, Evil-Merodach king of Babel, 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 Babel,

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

34 His ration was a continual ration, given to him by the king of Babel, a portion each day, all the days of his life, until he died.