⁵ Dig a hole through the wall while they are watching and go out through it.

¹² “Even Zedekiah will leave Jerusalem at night through a hole in the wall, taking only what he can carry with him. He will cover his face, and his eyes will not see the land he is leaving.

²⁶ And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?^[a] Is anything worth more than your soul?

⁷ I know the glorious day will come when each of you will throw away the gold idols and silver images your sinful hands have made.

⁴ Then a section of the city wall was broken down. Since the city was surrounded by the Babylonians,^[a] the soldiers waited for nightfall and escaped^[b] through the gate between the two walls behind the king’s garden. Then they headed toward the Jordan Valley.^[c]

¹⁵ They went all the way to the Jordan River, following a trail of clothing and equipment that the Arameans had thrown away in their mad rush to escape. The scouts returned and told the king about it.

⁷ So they panicked and ran into the night, abandoning their tents, horses, donkeys, and everything else, as they fled for their lives.

⁸ When the men with leprosy arrived at the edge of the camp, they went into one tent after another, eating and drinking wine; and they carried off silver and gold and clothing and hid it.