39 ¹ In the ninth year of Zedekiah^(A) king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar^(B) king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army and laid siege^(C) to it.

⁸ The Babylonians^[a] set fire^(A) to the royal palace and the houses of the people and broke down the walls^(B) of Jerusalem. ⁹ Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard carried into exile to Babylon the people who remained in the city, along with those who had gone over to him,^(C) and the rest of the people.^{(D) 10} But Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard left behind in the land of Judah some of the poor people, who owned nothing; and at that time he gave them vineyards and fields.

¹¹ Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had given these orders about Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard: ¹² “Take him and look after him; don’t harm^(E) him but do for him whatever he asks.” ¹³ So Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard, Nebushazban a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer a high official and all the other officers^(F) of the king of Babylon ¹⁴ sent and had Jeremiah taken out of the courtyard of the guard.^(G) They turned him over to Gedaliah^(H) son of Ahikam,^(I) the son of Shaphan,^(J) to take him back to his home. So he remained among his own people.^(K)