The Fall and Captivity of Judah

25 Now it came to pass ain the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around. 2 So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 3 By the ninth day of the bfourth month the famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.

4 Then cthe city wall was broken through, and all the men of war fled at night by way of the gate between two walls, which was by the king’s garden, even though the Chaldeans were still encamped all around against the city. And dthe king 1went by way of the 2plain. 5 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and they overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his army was scattered from him. 6 So they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon eat Riblah, and they pronounced judgment on him. 7 Then they killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, fput 3out the eyes of Zedekiah, bound him with bronze fetters, and took him to Babylon.

8 And in the fifth month, gon the seventh day of the month (which was hthe nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), iNebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9 jHe burned the house of the Lord kand the king’s house; all the houses of Jerusalem, that is, all the houses of the great, lhe burned with fire. 10 And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard mbroke down the walls of Jerusalem all around.

11 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive nthe rest of the people who remained in the city and the defectors who had deserted to the king of Babylon, with the rest of the multitude. 12 But the captain of the guard oleft some of the poor of the land as vinedressers and farmers. 13 pThe bronze qpillars that were in the house of the Lord, and rthe carts and sthe bronze Sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and tcarried their bronze to Babylon. 14 They also took away uthe pots, the shovels, the trimmers, the spoons, and all the bronze utensils with which the priests ministered. 15 The firepans and the basins, the things of solid gold and solid silver, the captain of the guard took away. 16 The two pillars, one Sea, and the carts, which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord, vthe bronze of all these articles was beyond measure. 17 wThe height of one pillar was 4eighteen cubits, and the capital on it was of bronze. The height of the capital was three cubits, and the network and pomegranates all around the capital were all of bronze. The second pillar was the same, with a network.

18 xAnd the captain of the guard took ySeraiah the chief priest, zZephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers. 19 He also took out of the city an officer who had charge of the men of war, afive men of 5the king’s close associates who were found in the city, the chief recruiting officer 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. 20 So Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, took these and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 21 Then the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. bThus Judah was carried away captive from its own land.