⁸ And in the fifth month, ^(A)on the seventh day of the month (which was ^(B)the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), ^(C)Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. ^9 (D)He burned the house of the Lord ^(E)and the king’s house; all the houses of Jerusalem, that is, all the houses of the great, ^(F)he burned with fire. ¹⁰ And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard ^(G)broke down the walls of Jerusalem all around.

¹¹ Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive ^(H)the 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 ^(I)left some of the poor of the land as vinedressers and farmers. ^13 (J)The bronze ^(K)pillars that were in the house of the Lord, and ^(L)the carts and ^(M)the bronze Sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and ^(N)carried their bronze to Babylon. ¹⁴ They also took away ^(O)the 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, ^(P)the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure. ^17 (Q)The height of one pillar was ^[a]eighteen 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 (R)And the captain of the guard took ^(S)Seraiah the chief priest, ^(T)Zephaniah 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, ^(U)five men of ^[b]the 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. ^(V)Thus Judah was carried away captive from its own land.

Gedaliah Made Governor of Judah^(W)

²² Then he made Gedaliah the son of ^(X)Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor over ^(Y)the people who remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left. ²³ Now when all the ^(Z)captains of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan the son of Careah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and ^[c]Jaazaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men. ²⁴ And Gedaliah took an oath before them and their men, and said to them, “Do not be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.”

²⁵ But ^(AA)it happened in the seventh month that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal family, came with ten men and struck and killed Gedaliah, the Jews, as well as the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah. ²⁶ And all the people, small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose ^(AB)and went to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

Jehoiachin Released from Prison^(AC)

^27 (AD)Now it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, that ^[d]Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, ^(AE)released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. ²⁸ He spoke kindly to him, and gave him a more prominent seat than those of the kings who were with him in Babylon. ²⁹ So Jehoiachin changed from his prison garments, and he ^(AF)ate ^[e]bread regularly before the king all the days of his life. ³⁰ And as for his ^[f]provisions, there was a ^[g]regular ration given him by the king, a portion for each day, all the days of his life.