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

² Two and a half years later, on July 18^[a] in the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s reign, a section of the city wall was broken down. ³ All the officers of the Babylonian army came in and sat in triumph at the Middle Gate: Nergal-sharezer of Samgar, and Nebo-sarsekim,^[b] a chief officer, and Nergal-sharezer, the king’s adviser, and all the other officers of the king of Babylon.

⁴ When King Zedekiah of Judah and all the soldiers saw that the Babylonians had broken into the city, they fled. They waited for nightfall and then slipped through the gate between the two walls behind the king’s garden and headed toward the Jordan Valley.^[c]

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]