Chapter 52

The Fall of Jerusalem

1 aZedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was 1bHamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of cLibnah.

2 He did aevil in the sight of the Lord like all that bJehoiakim had done.

3 For through the aanger of the Lord this came about in Jerusalem and Judah until He cast them out from His presence. And Zedekiah brebelled against the king of Babylon.

4 aNow it came about in the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, camped against it and built a bsiege wall all around 1it.

5 aSo the city was under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

6 On the ninth day of the afourth month the bfamine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.

7 Then the city was abroken into, and all the bmen of war fled and went forth from the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls which was by the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were 1call around the city. And they went by way of the Arabah.

8 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and aovertook Zedekiah in the 1plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him.

9 Then they captured the king and abrought him up to the king of Babylon at bRiblah in the land of cHamath, and he 1passed sentence on him.

10 The king of Babylon aslaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also slaughtered all the 1princes of Judah in Riblah.

11 Then he ablinded the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon and put him in prison until the day of his death.

12 aNow on the tenth day of the fifth month, which was the bnineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, cNebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, 1who was in the service of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.

13 He aburned the house of the Lord, the bking’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; even every large house he burned with fire.

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

15 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard acarried away into exile some of the poorest of the people, the rest of the people who were left in the city, the 1bdeserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon and the rest of the artisans.

16 But aNebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and 1plowmen.

17 Now the bronze apillars which belonged to the house of the Lord and the bstands and the bronze csea, which were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces and carried all their bronze to Babylon.

18 They also took away the apots, the shovels, the snuffers, the basins, the 1pans and all the bronze vessels which were used in temple service.

19 The captain of the guard also took away the abowls, the firepans, the basins, the pots, the lampstands, the 1pans and the drink offering bowls, what was fine gold and what was fine silver.

20 The two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve bronze bulls that were under 1the sea, and the stands, which King Solomon had made for the house of the Lord—the bronze of all these vessels was abeyond weight.

21 As for the pillars, the aheight of each pillar was eighteen 1cubits, and 2it was twelve cubits in acircumference and four fingers in thickness, and hollow.

22 Now a acapital of bronze was on it; and the height of each capital was five cubits, with network and bpomegranates upon the capital all around, all of bronze. And the second pillar was like these, including pomegranates.

23 There were ninety-six 1exposed pomegranates; all athe pomegranates numbered a hundred on the network all around.

24 Then the captain of the guard took aSeraiah the chief priest and bZephaniah the second priest, with the three 1cofficers of the temple.

25 He also took from the city one official who was overseer of the men of war, and seven 1of the aking’s advisers who were found in the city, and the scribe of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city.

26 Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and abrought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

27 Then the king of Babylon astruck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was bled away into exile from its land.

28 These are the people whom aNebuchadnezzar carried away into exile: in the 1seventh year 3,023 Jews;

29 in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar 832 persons from Jerusalem;

30 in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, aNebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile 745 Jewish people; there were 4,600 persons in all.

31 aNow it came about in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth of the month, that 1Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, 2bshowed favor to Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison.

32 aThen he spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon.

33 So 1Jehoiachin achanged his prison clothes, and 2bhad his meals in 3the king’s presence regularly all the days of his life.

34 For his allowance, a aregular allowance was given him by the king of Babylon, a daily portion all the days of his life until the day of his death.