⁴On the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked Jerusalem with his entire army. They set up camp and built dirt ramps around the city walls. ⁵The blockade of the city lasted until Zedekiah’s eleventh year as king. ⁶On the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city became so severe that the common people had no food.

⁷The enemy broke through the city walls, and all Judah’s soldiers fled. They left the city at night through the gate between the two walls beside the king’s garden. While the Babylonians were attacking the city from all sides, they took the road to the plain ⸤of Jericho⸥. ⁸The Babylonian army pursued King Zedekiah and caught up with him in the plain of Jericho. His entire army had deserted him. ⁹The Babylonians captured the king and brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah in Hamath, where the king of Babylon passed sentence on him. ¹⁰The king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons as Zedekiah watched. He also slaughtered all the officials of Judah at Riblah. ¹¹Then he blinded Zedekiah and put him in bronze shackles. The king of Babylon took him to Babylon and put him in a prison, where he stayed until he died.

¹²On the tenth day of the fifth month of Nebuchadnezzar’s nineteenth year as king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, who was the captain of the guard and an officer of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. ¹³He burned down the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem. Every important building was burned down. ¹⁴The entire Babylonian army that was with the captain of the guard tore down the walls around Jerusalem.

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