The Fall of Jerusalem

52 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah. ² Zedekiah did what was evil in the Lord’s sight just as Jehoiakim had done.^{(A) 3} Because of the Lord’s anger, it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he finally banished them from his presence. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.^(B)

⁴ In the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem with his entire army. They laid siege to the city and built a siege wall against it all around. ⁵ The city was under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year.

⁶ By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that the common people had no food. ⁷ Then the city was broken into, and all the warriors fled. They left the city at night by way of the city gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans surrounded the city. They made their way along the route to the Arabah.^{(C) 8} The Chaldean army pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. Zedekiah’s entire army left him and scattered. ⁹ The Chaldeans seized the king and brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him.

¹⁰ At Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes, and he also slaughtered the Judean commanders. ¹¹ Then he blinded Zedekiah and bound him with bronze chains. The king of Babylon brought Zedekiah to Babylon, where he kept him in custody^[a] until his dying day.^(D)

¹² On the tenth day of the fifth month—which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, entered Jerusalem as the representative of^[b] the king of Babylon. ¹³ He burned the Lord’s temple, the king’s palace, all the houses of Jerusalem; he burned down all the great houses. ¹⁴ The whole Chaldean army with the captain of the guards tore down all the walls surrounding Jerusalem.^{(E) 15} Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, deported some of the poorest of the people, as well as the rest of the people who remained in the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen. ¹⁶ But Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and farmers.^(F)

¹⁷ Now the Chaldeans broke into pieces the bronze pillars for the Lord’s temple and the water carts and the bronze basin^[c] that were in the Lord’s temple,^(G) and they carried all the bronze to Babylon. ¹⁸ They also took the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling basins, dishes, and all the bronze articles used in the temple service. ¹⁹ The captain of the guards took away the bowls, firepans, sprinkling basins, pots, lampstands, pans, and drink offering bowls^(H)—whatever was gold or silver.

²⁰ As for the two pillars, the one basin, with the twelve bronze oxen under it, and the water carts^[d] that King Solomon had made for the Lord’s temple, the weight of the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure. ²¹ One pillar was 27 feet^[e] tall, had a circumference of 18 feet,^[f] was hollow—four fingers thick— ²² and had a bronze capital on top of it.^(I) One capital, encircled by bronze grating and pomegranates, stood 7½ feet^[g] high. The second pillar was the same, with pomegranates. ²³ Each capital had ninety-six pomegranates all around it. All the pomegranates around the grating numbered one hundred.

²⁴ The captain of the guards also took away Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest of the second rank, and the three doorkeepers. ²⁵ From the city he took a court official^[h] who had been appointed over the warriors; seven trusted royal aides^[i] found in the city; the secretary of the commander of the army, who enlisted the people of the land for military duty; and sixty men from the common people^[j] who were found within the city. ²⁶ Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ²⁷ The king of Babylon put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah went into exile from its land.^(J)

²⁸ These are the people Nebuchadnezzar deported:^(K) in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews; ²⁹ in his eighteenth year,^[k] 832 people from Jerusalem; ³⁰ in Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, deported 745 Jews. Altogether, 4,600 people were deported.

Jehoiachin Pardoned

³¹ On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Judah’s King Jehoiachin, King Evil-merodach of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, pardoned King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him from prison. ³² He spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon. ³³ So Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes, and he dined regularly in the presence of the king of Babylon for the rest of his life. ³⁴ As for his allowance, a regular allowance was given to him by the king of Babylon, a portion for each day until the day of his death, for the rest of his life.^(L)

Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Counsel

19 When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth,^(A) and went into the Lord’s temple.^{(B) 2} He sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary,^(C) and the leading priests, who were covered with sackcloth,^(D) to the prophet Isaiah^(E) son of Amoz. ³ They said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace, for children have come to the point of birth,^(F) but there is no strength to deliver them. ⁴ Perhaps the Lord your God^(G) will hear^(H) all the words of the royal spokesman, whom his master the king of Assyria sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke^(I) him for the words that the Lord your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for the surviving remnant.’”^(J)

⁵ So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah, ⁶ who said to them, “Tell your master, ‘The Lord says this: Don’t be afraid^(K) because of the words you have heard, with which the king of Assyria’s attendants^(L) have blasphemed^(M) me. ⁷ I am about to put a spirit in him, and he will hear a rumor and return to his own land,^(N) where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’”^(O)

Sennacherib’s Departing Threat

⁸ When^(P) the royal spokesman heard that the king of Assyria had pulled out of Lachish,^(Q) he left and found him fighting against Libnah.^{(R) 9} The king had heard concerning King Tirhakah of Cush, “Look, he has set out to fight against you.” So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰ “Say this to King Hezekiah of Judah: ‘Don’t let your God, on whom you rely,^(S) deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.^{(T) 11} Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries: They completely destroyed them. Will you be rescued? ¹² Did the gods of the nations^(U) that my predecessors destroyed rescue them—nations such as Gozan,^(V) Haran,^(W) Rezeph, and the Edenites^(X) in Telassar? ¹³ Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of^[a] Sepharvaim, Hena, or Ivvah?’” ^(Y)

Hezekiah’s Prayer

¹⁴ Hezekiah took^(Z) the letter^(AA) from the messengers’ hands, read it, then went up to the Lord’s temple, and spread it out before the Lord.^{(AB) 15} Then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord:

Lord God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim,^(AC) you are God—you alone—of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.^{(AD) 16} Listen closely, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see.^(AE) Hear the words that Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God.^{(AF) 17} Lord, it is true that the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands.^{(AG) 18} They have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but made by human hands—wood and stone.^(AH) So they have destroyed them. ¹⁹ Now, Lord our God, please save us from his power so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, Lord, are God—you alone.^(AI)

God’s Answer through Isaiah

²⁰ Then^(AJ) Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “The Lord, the God of Israel says, ‘I have heard your prayer^(AK) to me about King Sennacherib of Assyria.’^{(AL) 21} This is the word the Lord has spoken against him:

²⁹ “This will be the sign^(AY) for you: This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what grows from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. ³⁰ The surviving remnant^(AZ) of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. ³¹ For a remnant will go out from Jerusalem, and survivors, from Mount Zion.^(BA) The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.^(BB)

This is the Lord’s declaration.

Defeat and Death of Sennacherib

³⁵ That night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies!^{(BE) 36} So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and left. He returned home and lived in Nineveh.^(BF)

³⁷ One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech^(BG) and Sharezer struck him down with the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat.^(BH) Then his son Esar-haddon^(BI) became king in his place.

Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery

20 In those days^(BJ) Hezekiah became terminally ill.^(BK) The prophet Isaiah^(BL) son of Amoz came and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Set your house in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.’”^(BM)

² Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall^(BN) and prayed to the Lord, ³ “Please, Lord, remember^(BO) how I have walked before you faithfully and wholeheartedly and have done what pleases you.”^[e](BP) And Hezekiah wept bitterly.^(BQ)

⁴ Isaiah had not yet gone out of the inner courtyard when the word of the Lord came to him: ⁵ “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader^(BR) of my people, ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: I have heard your prayer;^(BS) I have seen your tears. Look, I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the Lord’s temple. ⁶ I will add fifteen years to your life. I will rescue you and this city from the grasp of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’”^(BT)

⁷ Then Isaiah said, “Bring a lump of pressed figs.” So they brought it and applied it to his infected skin, and he recovered.^(BU)

⁸ Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, “What is the sign^(BV) that the Lord will heal me and that I will go up to the Lord’s temple on the third day?”

⁹ Isaiah said, “This is the sign^(BW) to you from the Lord that he will do what he has promised: Should the shadow go ahead ten steps or go back ten steps?”

¹⁰ Then Hezekiah answered, “It’s easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps. No, let the shadow go back ten steps.” ¹¹ So the prophet Isaiah called out to the Lord, and he brought the shadow^[f] back the ten steps it had descended on the stairway of Ahaz.^[g](BX)

Hezekiah’s Folly

¹² At that time^(BY) Merodach-baladan^[h] son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah since he heard that he had been sick. ¹³ Hezekiah listened to the letters and showed the envoys his whole treasure house—the silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil—and his armory, and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his palace and in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.^(BZ)

¹⁴ Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked him, “Where did these men come from and what did they say to you?”

Hezekiah replied, “They came from a distant country, from Babylon.”

¹⁵ Isaiah asked, “What have they seen in your palace?”

Hezekiah answered, “They have seen everything in my palace. There isn’t anything in my treasuries that I didn’t show them.”

¹⁶ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord: ¹⁷ ‘Look, the days are coming when everything in your palace and all that your predecessors have stored up until today will be carried off to Babylon; nothing will be left,’^(CA) says the Lord. ¹⁸ ‘Some of your descendants—who come from you, whom you father—will be taken away,^(CB) and they will become eunuchs^[i] in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”^(CC)

¹⁹ Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good,”^(CD) for he thought, “Why not, if there will be peace and security during my lifetime?”

Hezekiah’s Death

²⁰ The rest of the events of Hezekiah’s reign, along with all his might and how he made the pool^(CE) and the tunnel and brought water into the city,^(CF) are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.^{(CG) 21} Hezekiah rested with his ancestors, and his son Manasseh became king in his place.^(CH)

Judah’s King Manasseh

21 Manasseh^(CI) was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.^{(CJ) 2} He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight,^(CK) imitating the detestable practices of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.^{(CL) 3} He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed^(CM) and reestablished the altars for Baal. He made an Asherah,^(CN) as King Ahab of Israel had done;^(CO) he also bowed in worship to all the stars in the sky^(CP) and served them. ⁴ He built altars in the Lord’s temple,^(CQ) where the Lord had said, “Jerusalem is where I will put my name.”^{(CR) 5} He built altars to all the stars in the sky^(CS) in both courtyards of the Lord’s temple.^{(CT) 6} He sacrificed his son in the fire,^[j](CU) practiced witchcraft and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists.^(CV) He did a huge amount of evil in the Lord’s sight, angering him.^(CW)

⁷ Manasseh set up the carved image of Asherah, which he made, in the temple that the Lord had spoken about to David and his son Solomon: “I will establish my name forever in this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.^{(CX) 8} I will never again cause the feet of the Israelites to wander from the land I gave to their ancestors if only they will be careful to do all I have commanded them—the whole law that my servant Moses commanded them.”^{(CY) 9} But they did not listen; Manasseh caused them to stray so that they did worse evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.^(CZ)

¹⁰ The Lord said through his servants the prophets, ¹¹ “Since King Manasseh of Judah has committed all these detestable acts^(DA)—worse evil than the Amorites^(DB) who preceded him had done—and by means of his idols has also caused Judah to sin, ¹² this is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I am about to bring such a disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that everyone who hears about it will shudder.^{[k](DC) 13} I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line used on Samaria and the mason’s level used on the house of Ahab,^(DD) and I will wipe^(DE) Jerusalem clean as one wipes a bowl—wiping it and turning it upside down. ¹⁴ I will abandon the remnant^(DF) of my inheritance and hand them over to their enemies. They will become plunder and spoil to all their enemies, ¹⁵ because they have done what is evil in my sight and have angered me from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt until today.’”^(DG)

¹⁶ Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem with it from one end to another.^(DH) This was in addition to his sin that he caused Judah to commit, so that they did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.

Manasseh’s Death

¹⁷ The rest^(DI) of the events of Manasseh’s reign, along with all his accomplishments and the sin that he committed, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.^{(DJ) 18} Manasseh rested with his ancestors and was buried in the garden of his own house, the garden of Uzza. His son Amon became king in his place.

Judah’s King Amon

¹⁹ Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king,^(DK) and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz; she was from Jotbah. ²⁰ He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, just as his father Manasseh had done.^{(DL) 21} He walked in all the ways his father had walked; he served the idols his father had served, and he bowed in worship to them.^{(DM) 22} He abandoned the Lord God of his ancestors^(DN) and did not walk in the ways of the Lord.^(DO)

²³ Amon’s servants conspired against him and put the king to death in his own house.^{(DP) 24} The common people^[l] killed^(DQ) all who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah^(DR) king in his place.

²⁵ The rest of the events of Amon’s reign, along with his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings. ²⁶ He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and his son Josiah became king in his place.