So in the ninthj year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzark king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army. He encamped outside the city and built siege worksl all around it. 2 The city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

3 By the ninth day of the fourtha month the faminem in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat. 4 Then the city wall was broken through,n and the whole army fled at night through the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, though the Babyloniansb were surroundingo the city. They fled toward the Arabah,c 5 but the Babyloniand army pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered,p 6 and he was captured.q

He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah,r where sentence was pronounced on him. 7 They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.s

8 On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, an official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9 He set firet to the temple of the Lord, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down.u 10 The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the imperial guard broke down the wallsv around Jerusalem. 11 Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exilew the people who remained in the city, along with the rest of the populace and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon.x 12 But the commander left behind some of the poorest peopley of the land to work the vineyards and fields.