2 Kings 25:8–20

JERUSALEM DESTROYED

⁸On^ac the seventh day of the fifth month—which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, a servant of the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem.^{ad 9}He burned the Lord’s temple,^ae the king’s palace,^af and all the houses of Jerusalem; he burned down^ag all the great houses. ¹⁰The whole Chaldean army with the captain of the guards tore down the walls^ah surrounding Jerusalem. ¹¹Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, deported the rest of the people who remained in the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the population.^{ai 12}But the captain of the guards left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and farmers.^aj

¹³Now^ak the Chaldeans broke into pieces the bronze pillars^al of the Lord’s temple, the water carts, and the bronze basin,^Aam which were in the Lord’s temple, and carried the bronze to Babylon.^{an 14}They also took the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes, and all the bronze articles used in the priests’ service.^{ao 15}The captain of the guards took away the firepans and sprinkling basins—whatever was gold or silver.^ap

¹⁶As for the two pillars, the one basin, and the water carts that Solomon had made for the Lord’s temple, the weight of the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure.^{aq 17}One pillar was twenty-seven feet^B tall and had a bronze capital on top of it. The capital, encircled by a grating and pomegranates of bronze, stood five feet^A high. The second pillar was the same, with its own grating.^ar

¹⁸The captain of the guards^as also took away Seraiah^at the chief priest, Zephaniah^au the priest of the second rank, and the three doorkeepers. ¹⁹From the city he took a court official^B who had been appointed over the warriors; five trusted royal aides^Cav found in the city; the secretary of the commander of the army, who enlisted the people of the land for military duty; and sixty men from the common people^D who were found within the city. ²⁰Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.^a