2 Kings 24–25

Chapter 24

Babylon Controls Jehoiakim

^1aIn his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years; then he turned and rebelled against him.

²The Lord sent against him ^abands of Chaldeans, ^bbands of Arameans, ^cbands of Moabites, and bands of Ammonites. So He sent them against Judah to destroy it, ^daccording to the word of the Lord which He had spoken through His servants the prophets.

^3aSurely at the ¹command of the Lord it came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight ^bbecause of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done,

⁴and ^aalso for the innocent blood which he shed, for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; and the Lord would not forgive.

⁵Now 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?

Jehoiachin Reigns

⁶So ^aJehoiakim slept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin his son became king in his place.

^7aThe king of Egypt did not come out of his land again, ^bfor the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt from ^cthe brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates.

^8aJehoiachin was ^beighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.

⁹He did evil in the sight of the Lord, ^aaccording to all that his father had done.

Deportation to Babylon

¹⁰At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon went up to Jerusalem, and the city came under siege.

¹¹And Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came to the city, while his servants were besieging it.

^12aJehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he and his mother and his servants and his captains and his officials. So ^bthe king of Babylon took him captive in the eighth year of his reign.

^13aHe carried out from there all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king’s house, and ^bcut in pieces all the vessels of gold ^cwhich Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, just as the Lord had said.

¹⁴Then ^ahe led away into exile all Jerusalem and all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, ^bten thousand captives, and ^call the craftsmen and the smiths. None remained ^dexcept the poorest people of the land.

¹⁵So ^ahe led Jehoiachin away into exile to Babylon; also the king’s mother and the king’s wives and his officials and the leading men of the land, he led away into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

¹⁶All the men of valor, ^aseven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths, one thousand, all strong and fit for war, and these the king of Babylon brought into exile to Babylon.

Zedekiah Made King

^17aThen the king of Babylon made ¹his uncle Mattaniah king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

^18aZedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was ^bHamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

¹⁹He did evil in the sight of the Lord, ^aaccording to all that Jehoiakim had done.

²⁰For ^athrough the anger of the Lord this came about in Jerusalem and Judah until He cast them out from His presence. And ^bZedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

Chapter 25

Nebuchadnezzar Besieges Jerusalem

^1aNow in the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, ^bNebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, camped against it and ^cbuilt a siege wall all around ¹it.

²So the city was under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

³On the ninth day of the fourth month ^athe famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.

^4aThen the city was broken into, and all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls beside ^bthe king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. And ¹they went by way of the Arabah.

⁵But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho and all his army was scattered from him.

⁶Then ^athey captured the king and ^bbrought him to the king of Babylon at ^cRiblah, and ¹he passed sentence on him.

^7aThey slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, then ^bput out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon.

Jerusalem Burned and Plundered

^8aNow on the seventh day of the ^bfifth month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.

^9aHe burned the house of the Lord, ^bthe king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; even every great house he burned with fire.

¹⁰So all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard ^abroke down the walls around Jerusalem.

¹¹Then ^athe rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon and the rest of the people, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away into exile.

¹²But the captain of the guard left some of ^athe poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.

^13aNow the bronze pillars which were in the house of the Lord, and the stands and ^bthe bronze sea which were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces and carried the ¹bronze to Babylon.

^14aThey took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the spoons, and all the bronze vessels which were used in temple service.

¹⁵The captain of the guard also took away the firepans and the basins, what was fine gold and what was fine silver.

¹⁶The two pillars, the one sea, and the stands which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord—^athe bronze of all these vessels was beyond weight.

^17aThe height of the one pillar was eighteen ¹cubits, and a bronze capital was on it; the height of the capital was three cubits, with a network and pomegranates on the capital all around, all of bronze. And the second pillar was like these with network.

¹⁸Then the captain of the guard took ^aSeraiah the chief priest and ^bZephaniah the second priest, with the three ¹officers of the temple.

¹⁹From the city he took one official who was overseer of the men of war, and ^afive ¹of the king’s advisers who were found in the city; and the ²scribe of the captain of the army who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city.

²⁰Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at ^aRiblah.

²¹Then the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. ^aSo Judah was led away into exile from its land.

Gedaliah Made Governor

²²Now as for the people who were left in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, he appointed ^aGedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan over them.

^23aWhen all the captains of the forces, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah to ^bMizpah, namely, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men.

²⁴Gedaliah swore to them and their men and said to them, “Do not be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans; live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you.”

^25aBut it came about in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal ¹family, came ²with ten men and struck Gedaliah down so that he died along with the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.

^26aThen all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces arose and went to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

^27aNow it came about in the thirty-seventh year of ^bthe exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he became king, ^1creleased Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison;

²⁸and he ^aspoke kindly to him and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon.

²⁹¹Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes and ^2ahad his meals in ³the king’s presence regularly all the days of his life;

³⁰and for his ^aallowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, a portion for each day, all the days of his life.