Jerusalem Is Captured and Destroyed

(2 Chronicles 36.17-21; Jeremiah 52.3-30)

25 ^(A) In Zedekiah's ninth year as king, on the tenth day of the tenth month,^[a] King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia led his entire army to attack Jerusalem. The troops set up camp outside the city and built ramps up to the city walls.

^2-3 After a year and a half, all the food in Jerusalem was gone. Then on the ninth day of the fourth^[b] month, ^4 (B) the Babylonian troops broke through the city wall.^[c] That same night, Zedekiah and his soldiers tried to escape through the gate near the royal garden, even though they knew the enemy had the city surrounded. They headed toward the desert, ⁵ but the Babylonian troops caught up with them near Jericho. They arrested Zedekiah, but his soldiers scattered in every direction.

⁶ Zedekiah was taken to Riblah, where Nebuchadnezzar put him on trial and found him guilty. ^7 (C) Zedekiah's sons were killed right in front of him. His eyes were then poked out, and he was put in chains and dragged off to Babylon.

⁸ About a month later,^[d] in Nebuchadnezzar's nineteenth year as king, Nebuzaradan, who was his official in charge of the guards, arrived in Jerusalem. ^9 (D) Nebuzaradan burned down the Lord's temple, the king's palace, and every important building in the city, as well as all the houses. ¹⁰ Then he ordered the Babylonian soldiers to break down the walls around Jerusalem. ¹¹ He led away as prisoners the people left in the city, including those who had become loyal to Nebuchadnezzar.

Jerusalem Is Destroyed

(2 Kings 25.1-21; Jeremiah 52.3-30)

^17 (A) The Lord sent King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia to attack Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar killed the young men who were in the temple, and he showed no mercy to anyone, whether man or woman, young or old. God let him kill everyone in the city. ¹⁸ Nebuchadnezzar carried off everything that was left in the temple; he robbed the treasury and the personal storerooms of the king and his officials. He took everything back to Babylon.

^19 (B) Nebuchadnezzar's troops burned down the temple and destroyed every important building in the city. Then they broke down the city wall. ²⁰ The survivors were taken to Babylonia as prisoners, where they were slaves of the king and his sons, until Persia became a powerful nation.

^21 (C) Judah was an empty desert, and it stayed that way for 70 years, to make up for all the years it was not allowed to rest.^[a] These things happened just as Jeremiah the Lord's prophet had said.^[b]