Jeremiah 39:4–13

⁴When 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 army of the ^aChaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the ^bplains of Jericho; and they seized him and brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at ^cRiblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him.

⁶Then the ^aking of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah ^bbefore his eyes at Riblah; the king of Babylon also slew 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 king’s palace and the houses of the people, and they ^bbroke down the walls of Jerusalem.

⁹As for the rest of the people who were left in the city, the ^1adeserters who had gone over to him and ^bthe rest of the people who remained, ^cNebuzaradan the ^dcaptain of the bodyguard carried them into exile in Babylon.

¹⁰But some of the ^apoorest people who had nothing, Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard left behind in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields ¹at that time.

Jeremiah Spared

¹¹Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave orders about ^aJeremiah through Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, saying,

¹²“Take him and ¹look after him, and ^ado nothing harmful to him, but rather deal with him just as he tells you.”

¹³So Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard sent word, along with Nebushazban the ¹Rab-saris, and Nergal-sar-ezer the ²Rab-mag, and all the leading officers of the king of Babylon;