2 Kings 24–25

24In ^ahis days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant ^bthree years: then he turned and rebelled against him. ^2*cAnd the Lord sent against him ^dbands of the Chaldees, and ^debands of the Syrians, and ^efbands of the Moabites, and bands of ^gthe children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, ^haccording to the word of the Lord, which he spake ^†by his servants the prophets. ³Surely at the commandment of the Lord came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, ⁱfor the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did; ⁴And also for ^jthe innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the Lord would not pardon. ^5k*Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ⁶So Jehoiakim ^lslept with his fathers: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead. ⁷And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land: for ^mthe king of Babylon had taken from the ⁿriver of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt.

^8||Jehoiachin was ^oeighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. And his mother’s name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. ⁹And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all ^pthat his father had done. ^10*At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city ^†was besieged. ¹¹And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it. ¹²And ^qJehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his ^||officers: and the king of Babylon ^rtook him in the eighth year of ^||his reign. ¹³And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and ^sthe treasures of the king’s house, and ^tcut in pieces all the vessels of gold which ^uSolomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, ^xas the Lord had said. ¹⁴And ^yhe carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ^zten thousand captives, and all ^athe craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save ^bthe poorest sort of the people of the land. ¹⁵And ^che carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king’s mother, and the king’s wives, and his ^||officers, ^dand the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. ¹⁶And ^eall the men of might, even ^zseven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all that were strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon. ^*17And ^fthe king of Babylon made Mattaniah ^ghis father’s brother king in his stead, and ^hchanged his name to Zedekiah.

¹⁸ⁱZedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was ^kHamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. ^19*lAnd he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. ²⁰For through the anger of the Lord it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence, ^mthat Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

25^*And it came to pass ^ain the ninth year of his reign, in the ^btenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and all his host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it; and they built ^cforts against it round about. ^2*And the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. ³And on the ninth day of the ^dfourth month ^ethe famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land. ⁴And ^ethe city was broken up, and ^fall the men of war ^gfled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by ^hthe king’s garden: (now the ⁱChaldees were against the city round about:) and ^jthe king went the way toward ^kthe plain. ⁵And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in ^kthe plains of Jericho: and all his army were scattered from him. ⁶So they took the king, and ^lbrought him up to the king of Babylon to ^mRiblah; and they ^†gave judgment upon him. ⁷And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and ^†nput out the eyes of Zedekiah, and ^obound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon.

⁸And in the ^pfifth month, on the ^qseventh day of the month, which is ^rthe nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzar-adan, ^||captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem: ⁹And ^she burnt the house of the Lord, and the king’s house, and ^tall the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man’s house burnt he with fire. ¹⁰And all the army of the Chaldees, that were ^uwith the captain of the guard, ^wbrake down the walls of Jerusalem round about. ¹¹Now ^xthe rest of the people that were left in the city, and the ^†fugitives that fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude, did Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard carry away. ¹²But the captain of the guard left ^yof the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen. ^13zAnd ^athe pillars of brass that were in the house of the Lord, and ^bthe bases, and ^cthe brasen sea that was in the house of the Lord, did the Chaldees break in pieces, and carried the brass of them to Babylon. ¹⁴And ^dthe pots, and ^dthe shovels, and ^ethe snuffers, and ^fthe spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away. ¹⁵And ^dthe firepans, and ^dthe bowls, and such things as were of gold, in gold, and of silver, in silver, the captain of the guard took away. ^16gThe two pillars, ^†one sea, and ^hthe bases which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord; ⁱthe brass of all these vessels was without weight. ^17kThe height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the chapiter upon it was brass: and the height of the chapiter ^lthree cubits; and the wreathen work, and pomegranates upon the chapiter round about, all of brass: and like unto these had the second pillar with wreathen work. ¹⁸And the captain of the guard took ^mSeraiah ⁿthe chief priest, and ^oZephaniah ^pthe second priest, and the three keepers of the ^†door: ¹⁹And out of the city he took an ^||officer that was set over the men of war, and ^qfive men of them that ^†were in the king’s presence, which were found in the city, and the ^||principal scribe of the host, which mustered the people of the land, and threescore men of the people of the land that were found in the city: ²⁰And Nebuzar-adan captain of the guard took these, and brought them to the king of Babylon to ^rRiblah: ²¹And the king of Babylon smote them, and slew them at ^rRiblah in the land of Hamath. ^sSo Judah was carried away out of their land.

²²And as for the people that remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made ^tGedaliah the son of ^uAhikam, the son of Shaphan, ruler. ²³And when all the ^xcaptains of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, there came to Gedaliah to ^yMizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Careah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth ^zthe ^aNetophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of a ^bMaachathite, they and their men. ²⁴And Gedaliah sware to them, and to their men, and said unto them, Fear not to be the servants of the Chaldees: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon; and it shall be well with you. ^25*But ^cit came to pass in the ^dseventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed ^†royal, came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah, that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him at ^yMizpah. ²⁶And all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose, and came to ^eEgypt: for they were afraid of the Chaldees.

^27*fAnd it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of ^gthe captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the ^hseven and twentieth day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon in the year that he began to reign ⁱdid lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison; ²⁸And he spake ^†kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon; ²⁹And changed his prison garments: and he did ^keat bread continually before him all the days of his life. ³⁰And his ^lallowance was a continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life.