Chapter 25

¹ It was during the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, that Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and all his army came up against Jerusalem. He camped and made siege-works all around it.^{[a] 2} The city was under siege until the eleventh year of the reign of King Zedekiah. ³ By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe that there was no food left for the people of the land.

⁴ There was a breach in the city wall, and all of the warriors fled at night by way of the gate between the two walls by the king’s garden, even though the Chaldeans surrounded the city. They went toward the Arabah.

⁵ The Chaldean army chased after them and caught up with the king in the plains of Jericho, scattering his entire army. ⁶ They captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon who was at Riblah where he pronounced his judgment. ⁷ They killed Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes, and then they put out his eyes, bound him in brass fetters, and carried him off to Babylon.

Destruction of Jerusalem. ⁸ On the seventh day of the fifth month of the ninth year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard and a servant of the king of Babylon, came up to Jerusalem. ⁹ He burned down the temple of the Lord, the royal palace, all of the buildings of Jerusalem. He burned down every large building. ¹⁰ All of the Chaldean army that was with the captain of the guard broke down all of the walls surrounding Jerusalem. ¹¹ Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, carried off the rest of the people who remained in the city, those who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.

¹² But the captain of the guard left the poorest of the people who were to be vinedressers and herdsmen.

¹³ The Chaldeans broke into pieces the bronze pillars in the temple of the Lord and the bronze sea and its base in the temple of the Lord. They carried the bronze off to Babylon. ¹⁴ They took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the spoons, and all of the bronze vessels that were used for ministry there. ¹⁵ The captain of the guard also took away the censers and the bowls, and everything that was made with gold or silver. ¹⁶ One could not even measure the weight of the bronze from all these things: the two pillars, the sea, and its base that were made by Solomon for the temple of the Lord. ¹⁷ Each bronze pillar with its capital was eighteen cubits tall. The capital was three cubits high, along with a bronze network and pomegranates upon the capital. The other pillar was identical with its network.

¹⁸ The captain of the guard took away Seraiah, the chief priest, Zephaniah, the second priest, as well as three of the doormen. ¹⁹ He also took the officer who was in charge of the fighting men out of the city as well as five of the king’s advisors who were caught in the city. He took the scribe assigned to the leader of the army, the one who would muster the people of the land. He also took sixty of the people of the land who were found in the city.

²⁰ Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon in Riblah. ²¹ The king of Babylon struck them down and killed them in Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus, Judah was carried away from their land into exile.

²² Gedaliah Governs Judah.^[b] As for the rest of the people who had remained in the land of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, appointed Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, over them.

²³ When all of the captains of the army (they and their men) heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah in Mizpah. They were Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, Johanan, the son of Kareah, Seraiah, the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah, the son of the Maachathite, and their men.

²⁴ Gedaliah swore to them and to their men, saying to them, “Do not be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and everything will be all right with you.”

²⁵ But during the seventh month, Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, a member of the royal family, came with ten men and struck down Gedaliah. He died along with the Jews and Chaldeans who were with him in Mizpah.

²⁶ All of the people then rose up, the small and the great, and the captains of the army, and they went to Egypt because they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

²⁷ Jehoiachin’s Release from Prison.^[c] In the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month, Evil-merodach who had become king that year, released Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, from prison. ²⁸ He spoke kindly to him and he set him upon his throne which was above the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon. ²⁹ He changed his prison clothes, and he ate his meals with him for the rest of his life. ³⁰ He was given a regular allowance from the king, a portion for each day of the rest of his life.