2 Kings 24–25

First Invasion of Nebuchadnezzar; Jehoiakim Submits

24In his days, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up because Jehoiakim had become his servant for three years; then he turned and rebelled against him. ²So Yahweh sent against him raiding bands of Chaldeans, raiding bands of Aram, raiding bands of Moab, and raiding bands of the Ammonites.^a He had sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of Yahweh that he had spoken by the hand of his servants the prophets. ³Surely, it was on the command^b of Yahweh against Judah to remove them from his sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done. ⁴Also, for the blood of the innocent that he had shed—and he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood—Yahweh was not willing to forgive. ⁵The remainder of the acts of Jehoiakim and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? ⁶So Jehoiakim slept with his ancestors,^c and Jehoiachin his son became king in his place. ⁷The king of Egypt did not again come out from his land, for the king of Babylon had taken, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Euphrates River, all that belonged to the king of Egypt.

Jehoichin Succeeds Jehoiakim

⁸Jehoiachin was eighteen years old^d when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan from Jerusalem. ⁹He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that his father had done.

Second Invasion of Nebuchadnezzar

¹⁰At that time, the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and the city came under the siege. ¹¹Then Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city while his servants were besieging it. ¹²Jehoiachin king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, his mother, his servants, his commanders, and his court officials. The king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. ¹³Then he took from there all of the treasures of the temple of Yahweh and the treasures of the palace of the king. He cut up all of the vessels of gold which Solomon the king of Israel had made in the temple of Yahweh, as Yahweh had foretold. ¹⁴He deported all of Jerusalem: all of the commanders, and all of the skilled warriors,^e ten thousand captives, and all of the skilled craftsmen and the artisans; no one was left over except the poorest of the people of the land. ¹⁵He deported Jehoiachin to Babylon; the mother of the king, the wives of the king, his court officials, and the citizenry of the land he caused to go into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ¹⁶of all of the skilled men, seven thousand, and of the skilled craftsmen and the artisans, one thousand. All of the mighty warriors fit for war^f the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon. ¹⁷Then the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his uncle king in his place and changed his name to Zedekiah.

Zedekiah Replaces Jehoiachin

¹⁸Zedekiah was twenty-one years old^g when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah. ¹⁹He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh just like all that Jehoiakim had done. ²⁰For it happened because of the anger of Yahweh, in Jerusalem and in Judah, until they were cast out from his presence. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

The Final Invasion of Nebuchadnezzar

25It happened that in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem. He encamped against it and built siege works against it all around. ²So the city came under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. ³In the ninth month, the famine became severe in the city, and there was no food for the people of the land. ⁴Then the city was breached, and all of the men of war entered by night by way of the gate between the wall which was by the garden of the king, and the Chaldeans were against the city all around, so he^a left by the way of the Arabah. ⁵But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and they overtook him in the Arabah of Jericho, and all of his army scattered from him. ⁶So they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they passed sentence on him.^{b 7}They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; then they blinded the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon.

Jerusalem Is Sacked and the Temple Burned

⁸In the fifth month, on the seventh of the month, that is, the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, a commander of the imperial guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. ⁹He burned the temple of Yahweh, the palace of the king, and all of the houses of Jerusalem; every large house he burned with fire. ¹⁰And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the commander of the imperial guard tore down the walls of Jerusalem all around. ¹¹The remainder of the people left in the city, the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the remainder of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the commander of the imperial guard deported.

¹²But the poor of the land the commander of the imperial guard left for the vineyards and for tilling.

Plunder Taken by the Chaldeans

¹³The bronze pillars that were in the temple^c of Yahweh, and the water carts, and the bronze sea that was in the temple^d of Yahweh, the Chaldeans broke into pieces and carried their bronze to Babylon. ¹⁴The pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the dishes, and the vessels of bronze with which they served there, they took. ¹⁵The firepans and the basins, whatever was gold, the commander of the imperial guard took for the gold and whatever was silver, for the silver. ¹⁶The two pillars, the one sea, and the water cart that Solomon had made for the temple^e of Yahweh, there was no weighing to the bronze of all of these vessels. ¹⁷The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits; a bronze capital was on it, with the height of the capital being three cubits. The latticework and pomegranates on the capital all around were bronze, and likewise on the latticework for the second pillar.

¹⁸Then the commander of the imperial guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and three of the threshold keepers. ¹⁹From the city he took one court official who was chief officer over the men of war, five men from the king’s council^f who were found in the city, the secretary of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men from the people of the land being found in the city. ²⁰Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ²¹Then the king of Babylon struck them down and killed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath; thus Judah was removed from its land.

Gedaliah Appointed Governor

²²Now as far as the people left in Judah whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon left behind, he appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan over them. ²³When all of the commanders of the troops heard, they and the men, that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan the son of Kareah, Seriah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men. ²⁴Gedaliah swore to them and to their men, and he said to them, “You must not be afraid because of the Chaldeans. Settle in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and may it go well with you.” ²⁵But it happened in the seventh month that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah the son of Elishama from the offspring of the kingship came, and ten men with him, and they struck down Gedaliah so that he died with the Judeans and with the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah. ²⁶Then all the people, from youngest to oldest, and the commanders of the troops, went to Egypt, for they were afraid of the presence of the Chaldeans.

Elderly Jehoiachin Cared for in Babylon

²⁷It happened in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month on the twenty-seventh of the month, lifted Evil-Merodach king of Babylon in the year that he became king, the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah from the house of imprisonment. ²⁸He spoke kindly^g to him, and he gave him a better seat than the seat of the kings who were with him in Babylon. ²⁹So he changed the clothes of his imprisonment, and he ate food continually in his presence all the days of his life. ³⁰His allowance was continually given to him from the king, a portion every day^h all the days of his life.