Jeremiah 39:1–9

The Walls of Jerusalem Torn Down

¹¹Now when Jerusalem was captured ^2ain the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his military force came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it;

²in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the city was ^abreached.

³Then all the ^aofficials of the king of Babylon came in and sat down at the ^bMiddle Gate: Nergal-sar-ezer, Samgar-nebu, Sar-sekim the ¹Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the ²Rab-mag, and all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon.

⁴Now it happened that when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, they ^afled and went out of the city at night by way of the king’s garden through the gate ^bbetween the two walls; and he went out toward the ¹Arabah.

⁵But the military force of the ^aChaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the ^1bplains of Jericho; and they took him and brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at ^cRiblah in the land of Hamath, and he spoke judgment on him.

⁶Then the ^aking of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah ^bbefore his eyes at Riblah; the king of Babylon also slaughtered all the ^cnobles of Judah.

⁷He then ^ablinded Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him in ^bfetters of bronze to bring him to ^cBabylon.

⁸The Chaldeans also ^aburned with fire the house of the king and the houses of the people, and they ^btore down the walls of Jerusalem.

⁹And as for the rest of the people who remained in the city, the ^1adefectors who had gone over to him and ^bthe rest of the people who remained, ^cNebuzaradan the ^dcaptain of the bodyguard took them away into exile in Babylon.