2 Kings 25
Living Bible
25 Then King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon mobilized his entire army and laid siege to Jerusalem, arriving on March 25 of the ninth year of the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah. 2 The siege continued into the eleventh year of his reign.
3 The last food in the city was eaten on July 24, 4-5 and that night the king and his troops made a hole in the inner wall and fled out toward the Arabah through a gate that lay between the double walls near the king’s garden. The Babylonian troops surrounding the city took out after him and captured him in the plains of Jericho, and all his men scattered. 6 He was taken to Riblah, where he was tried and sentenced before the king of Babylon. 7 He was forced to watch as his sons were killed before his eyes; then his eyes were put out, and he was bound with chains and taken away to Babylon.
8 General Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal bodyguard, arrived at Jerusalem from Babylon on July 22 of the nineteenth year of the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar. 9 He burned down the Temple, the palace, and all the other houses of any worth. 10 He then supervised the Babylonian army in tearing down the walls of Jerusalem. 11 The remainder of the people in the city and the Jewish deserters who had declared their allegiance to the king of Babylon were all taken as exiles to Babylon. 12 But the poorest of the people were left to farm the land.
13 The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars of the Temple and the bronze tank and its bases and carried all the bronze to Babylon. 14-15 They also took all the pots, shovels, firepans, snuffers, spoons, and other bronze instruments used for the sacrifices. The gold and silver bowls, with all the rest of the gold and silver, were melted down to bullion. 16 It was impossible to estimate the weight of the two pillars and the great tank and its bases—all made for the Temple by King Solomon—because they were so heavy. 17 Each pillar was 27 feet high, with an intricate bronze network of pomegranates decorating the 4-1/2-foot capitals at the tops of the pillars.
18 The general took Seraiah, the chief priest, his assistant Zephaniah, and the three Temple guards to Babylon as captives. 19 A commander of the army of Judah, the chief recruiting officer, five of the king’s counselors, and sixty farmers, all of whom were discovered hiding in the city, 20 were taken by General Nebuzaradan to the king of Babylon at Riblah, 21 where they were put to the sword and died.
So Judah was exiled from its land.
22 Then King Nebuchadnezzar appointed Gedaliah (the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan) as governor over the people left in Judah. 23 When the Israeli guerrilla forces learned that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor, some of these underground leaders and their men joined him at Mizpah. These included Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah; Johanan, the son of Kareah; Seraiah, the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite; and Jaazaniah, son of Maachathite, and their men.
24 Gedaliah vowed that if they would give themselves up and submit to the Babylonians, they would be allowed to live in the land and would not be exiled. 25 But seven months later, Ishmael, who was a member of the royal line, went to Mizpah with ten men and killed Gedaliah and his court—both the Jews and the Babylonians.
26 Then all the men of Judah and the guerrilla leaders fled in panic to Egypt, for they were afraid of what the Babylonians would do to them.
27 King Jehoiachin was released from prison on the twenty-seventh day of the last month of the thirty-seventh year of his captivity.
This occurred during the first year of the reign of King Evil-merodach of Babylon. 28 He treated Jehoiachin kindly and gave him preferential treatment over all the other kings who were being held as prisoners in Babylon. 29 Jehoiachin was given civilian clothing to replace his prison garb, and for as long as he lived, he ate regularly at the king’s table. 30 The king also gave him a daily cash allowance for the rest of his life.
2 Kings 25
Young's Literal Translation
25 And it cometh to pass, in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth of the month, come hath Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, he and all his force, against Jerusalem, and encampeth against it, and buildeth against it a fortification round about.
2 And the city entereth into siege till the eleventh year of king Zedekiah,
3 on the ninth of the month -- when the famine is severe in the city, and there hath not been bread for the people of the land,
4 then the city is broken up, and all the men of war [go] by night the way of the gate, between the two walls that [are] by the garden of the king, and the Chaldeans [are] against the city round about, and [the king] goeth the way of the plain.
5 And the force of the Chaldeans pursue after the king, and overtake him in the plains of Jericho, and all his force have been scattered from him;
6 and they seize the king, and bring him up unto the king of Babylon, to Riblah, and they speak with him -- judgment.
7 And the sons of Zedekiah they have slaughtered before his eyes, and the eyes of Zedekiah he hath blinded, and bindeth him with brazen fetters, and they bring him to Babylon.
8 And in the fifth month, on the seventh of the month (it [is] the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), hath Nebuzaradan chief of the executioners, servant of the king of Babylon, come to Jerusalem,
9 and he burneth the house of Jehovah, and the house of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem, yea, every great house he hath burned with fire;
10 and the walls of Jerusalem round about have all the forces of the Chaldeans, who [are] with the chief of the executioners, broken down.
11 And the rest of the people, those left in the city, and those falling who have fallen to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude, hath Nebuzaradan chief of the executioners removed;
12 and of the poor of the land hath the chief of the executioners left for vine-dressers and for husbandmen.
13 And the pillars of brass that [are] in the house of Jehovah, and the bases, and the sea of brass, that [is] in the house of Jehovah, have the Chaldeans broken in pieces, and bear away their brass to Babylon.
14 And the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass with which they minister they have taken,
15 and the fire-pans, and the bowls that [are] wholly of silver, hath the chief of the executioners taken.
16 The two pillars, the one sea, and the bases that Solomon made for the house of Jehovah, there was no weighing of the brass of all these vessels;
17 eighteen cubits [is] the height of the one pillar, and the chapiter on it [is] of brass, and the height of the chapiter [is] three cubits, and the net and the pomegranates [are] on the chapiter round about -- the whole [is] of brass; and like these hath the second pillar, with the net.
18 And the chief of the executioners taketh Seraiah the head priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold,
19 and out of the city he hath taken a certain eunuch who is appointed over the men of war, and five men of those seeing the king's face who have been found in the city, and the head scribe of the host, who mustereth the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who are found in the city,
20 and Nebuzaradan chief of the executioners taketh them, and causeth them to go unto the king of Babylon, to Libnah,
21 and the king of Babylon smiteth them, and putteth them to death in Riblah, in the land of Hamath, and he removeth Judah from off its land.
22 And the people that is left in the land of Judah whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon hath left -- he appointeth over them Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan.
23 And all the heads of the forces hear -- they and the men -- that the king of Babylon hath appointed Gedaliah, and they come in unto Gedaliah, to Mizpah, even Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and Johanan son of Kareah, and Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maachathite -- they and their men;
24 and Gedaliah sweareth to them, and to their men, and saith to them, `Be not afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans, dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it is good for you.'
25 And it cometh to pass, in the seventh month, come hath Ishmael son of Nathaniah, son of Elishama of the seed of the kingdom, and ten men with him, and they smite Gedaliah, and he dieth, and the Jews and the Chaldeans who have been with him in Mizpah.
26 And all the people rise, from small even unto great, and the heads of the forces, and come in to Egypt, for they have been afraid of the presence of the Chaldeans.
27 And it cometh to pass, in the thirty and seventh year of the removal of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the twenty and seventh of the month hath Evil-Merodach king of Babylon lifted up, in the year of his reigning, the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, out of the house of restraint,
28 and speaketh with him good things and putteth his throne above the throne of the kings who [are] with him in Babylon,
29 and hath changed the garments of his restraint, and he hath eaten bread continually before him all days of his life,
30 and his allowance -- a continual allowance -- hath been given to him from the king, the matter of a day in its day, all days of his life.
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