2 Kings 24:1–25:21

24:1 During Jehoiakim’s reign,1 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked.2 Jehoiakim was his subject for three years, but then he rebelled against him.3 24:2 The Lord sent against him Babylonian, Syrian, Moabite, and Ammonite raiding bands; he sent them to destroy Judah, as he had warned he would do through his servants the prophets.4 24:3 Just as the Lord had announced, he rejected Judah because of all the sins which Manasseh had committed.5 24:4 Because he killed innocent people and stained Jerusalem with their blood, the Lord was unwilling to forgive them.6

24:5 The rest of the events of Jehoiakim’s reign and all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.7 24:6 He passed away8 and his son Jehoiachin replaced him as king. 24:7 The king of Egypt did not march out from his land again, for the king of Babylon conquered all the territory that the king of Egypt had formerly controlled between the Brook of Egypt and the Euphrates River.

Jehoiachin’s Reign over Judah

24:8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.9 His mother10 was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan, from Jerusalem. 24:9 He did evil in the sight of11 the Lord as his ancestors had done.

24:10 At that time the generals12 of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon marched to Jerusalem and besieged the city.13 24:11 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to the city while his generals were besieging it. 24:12 King Jehoiachin of Judah, along with his mother, his servants, his officials, and his eunuchs surrendered14 to the king of Babylon. The king of Babylon, in the eighth year of his reign,15 took Jehoiachin16 prisoner. 24:13 Nebuchadnezzar17 took from there all the riches in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace. He removed all the gold items which King Solomon of Israel had made for the Lord’s temple, just as the Lord had warned. 24:14 He deported all the residents of Jerusalem, including all the officials and all the soldiers (10,000 people in all). This included all the craftsmen and those who worked with metal. No one was left except for the poorest among the people of the land. 24:15 He deported Jehoiachin from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with the king’s mother and wives, his eunuchs, and the high-ranking officials of the land.18 24:16 The king of Babylon deported to Babylon all the soldiers (there were 7,000), as well as 1,000 craftsmen and metal workers. This included all the best warriors.19 24:17 The king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s20 uncle, king in Jehoiachin’s place. He renamed him Zedekiah.

Zedekiah’s Reign over Judah

24:18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled for eleven years in Jerusalem.21 His mother22 was Hamutal,23 the daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah. 24:19 He did evil in the sight of24 the Lord, as Jehoiakim had done.25

24:20 What follows is a record of what happened to Jerusalem and Judah because of the Lord’s anger; he finally threw them out of his presence.26 Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 25:1 So King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and set up camp outside1 it. They built siege ramps all around it. He arrived on the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign.2 25:2 The city remained under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year. 25:3 By the ninth day of the fourth month3 the famine in the city was so severe the residents4 had no food. 25:4 The enemy broke through the city walls,5 and all the soldiers tried to escape. They left the city during the night.6 They went through the gate between the two walls that is near the king’s garden.7 (The Babylonians were all around the city.) Then they headed for the Jordan Valley.8 25:5 But the Babylonian army chased after the king. They caught up with him in the plains of Jericho,9 and his entire army deserted him. 25:6 They captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah,10 where he11 passed sentence on him. 25:7 Zedekiah’s sons were executed while Zedekiah was forced to watch.12 The king of Babylon13 then had Zedekiah’s eyes put out, bound him in bronze chains, and carried him off to Babylon.

Nebuchadnezzar Destroys Jerusalem

25:8 On the seventh14 day of the fifth month,15 in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard16 who served the king of Babylon, arrived in Jerusalem.17 25:9 He burned down the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem, including every large house.18 25:10 The whole Babylonian army that came with the captain of the royal guard tore down the walls that surrounded Jerusalem. 25:11 Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, deported the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen.19 25:12 But he20 left behind some of the poor of the land and gave them fields and vineyards.

25:13 The Babylonians broke the two bronze pillars in the Lord’s temple, as well as the movable stands and the big bronze basin called the “The Sea.”21 They took the bronze to Babylon. 25:14 They also took the pots, shovels,22 trimming shears,23 pans, and all the bronze utensils used by the priests.24 25:15 The captain of the royal guard took the golden and silver censers25 and basins. 25:16 The bronze of the items that King Solomon made for the Lord’s temple—including the two pillars, the big bronze basin called “The Sea,” the twelve bronze bulls under “The Sea,”26 and the movable stands—was too heavy to be weighed. 25:17 Each of the pillars was about twenty-seven feet27 high. The bronze top of one pillar was about four and a half feet28 high and had bronze latticework and pomegranate shaped ornaments all around it. The second pillar with its latticework was like it.

25:18 The captain of the royal guard took Seraiah the chief priest and Zephaniah, the priest who was second in rank, and the three doorkeepers. 25:19 From the city he took a eunuch who was in charge of the soldiers, five29 of the king’s advisers30 who were discovered in the city, an official army secretary who drafted citizens31 for military service, and sixty citizens from the people of the land who were discovered in the city. 25:20 Nebuzaradan, captain of the royal guard, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 25:21 The king of Babylon ordered them to be executed32 at Riblah in the territory33 of Hamath. So Judah was deported from its land.