JERUSALEM DESTROYED

8 Onac 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 downag all the great houses. 10 The whole Chaldean army with the captain of the guards tore down the wallsah surrounding Jerusalem. 11 Nebuzaradan, 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

13 Nowak the Chaldeans broke into pieces the bronze pillarsal of the Lord’s temple, the water carts, and the bronze basin,B,am 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

16 As 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 feetC tall and had a bronze capital on top of it. The capital, encircled by a grating and pomegranates of bronze, stood five feetD high. The second pillar was the same, with its own grating.ar