Jeremiah 52:12–30

The Destruction of the Temple

¹²On the tenth day of the fifth month of the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia, Nebuzaradan, adviser to the king and commander of his army, entered Jerusalem. ^13*He burnt down the Temple, the palace, and the houses of all the important people in Jerusalem; ¹⁴and his soldiers tore down the city walls. ¹⁵Then Nebuzaradan took away to Babylonia^q the people who were left in the city, the remaining skilled workmen, and those who had deserted to the Babylonians. ¹⁶But he left in Judah some of the poorest people, who owned no property, and he put them to work in the vineyards and fields.

^17*The Babylonians broke in pieces the bronze columns and the carts that were in the Temple, together with the large bronze tank, and they took all the bronze to Babylon. ^18*They also took away the shovels and the ash containers used in cleaning the altar, the tools used in tending the lamps, the bowls used for catching the blood from the sacrifices, the bowls used for burning incense, and all the other bronze articles used in the temple service. ^19*They took away everything that was made of gold or silver: the small bowls, the pans used for carrying live coals, the bowls for holding the blood from the sacrifices, the ash containers, the lamp-stands, the bowls used for incense, and the bowls used for pouring out offerings of wine. ^20*The bronze objects that King Solomon had made for the Temple—the two columns, the carts, the large tank, and the twelve bulls that supported it—were too heavy to weigh. ^21–22*The two columns were identical: each one was 8 metres high and 5.3 metres round. They were hollow, and the metal was 75 millimetres thick. On top of each column was a bronze capital 2.2 metres high, and all round it was a grating decorated with pomegranates, all of which was also made of bronze. ^23*On the grating of each column there were a hundred pomegranates in all, and 96 of these were visible from the ground.

The People of Judah Are Taken to Babylonia

²⁴In addition, Nebuzaradan, the commanding officer, took away as prisoners Seraiah the High Priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank, and the three other important temple officials. ²⁵From the city he took the officer who had been in command of the troops, seven of the king’s personal advisers who were still in the city, the commander’s assistant, who was in charge of military records, and 60 other important men. ²⁶Nebuzaradan took them to the king of Babylonia, who was in the city of Riblah ²⁷in the territory of Hamath. There the king had them beaten and put to death.

So the people of Judah were carried away from their land into exile. ²⁸This is the record of the people that Nebuchadnezzar took away as prisoners: in his seventh year as king he carried away 3,023; ²⁹in his eighteenth year, 832 from Jerusalem; ³⁰and in his 23rd year, 745—taken away by Nebuzaradan. In all, 4,600 people were taken away.