2 Kings 25:1–7

NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S SIEGE OF JERUSALEM

25In the ninth year^o of Zedekiah’s reign,^p on the tenth day of the tenth month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem with his entire army.^q They laid siege to the city and built a siege wall against it all around.^{r 2}The city was under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year.

³By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that the common people had no food.^{s 4}Then the city was broken into,^t and all the warriors fled^u at night by way of the city gate between the two walls near the king’s garden,^v even though the Chaldeans surrounded the city. As the king made his way along the route to the Arabah,^{w 5}the Chaldean army pursued him and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. Zedekiah’s entire army left him and scattered.^{x 6}The Chaldeans seized the king^y and brought him up to the king of Babylon^z at Riblah,^aa and they passed sentence on him. ⁷They slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes. Finally, the king of Babylon blinded Zedekiah, bound him in bronze chains, and took him to Babylon.^ab