The Destruction of Jerusalem Foretold

²⁰ “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near.^{[a](A) 21} Then those in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those inside the city must leave it, and those out in the country must not enter it,^{(B) 22} for these are days of vengeance, as a fulfillment of all that is written.^{(C) 23} Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress on the earth and wrath against this people; ²⁴ they will fall by the edge of the sword and be taken away as captives among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the nations, until the times of the nations are fulfilled.^(D)

Jesus Weeps over Jerusalem

⁴¹ As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it,^{(A) 42} saying, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. ⁴³ Indeed, the days will come upon you when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you and hem you in on every side.^{(B) 44} They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”^[a](C)

Jehoiachin Favored in Captivity

³¹ In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, King Evil-merodach of Babylon, in the year he began to reign, showed favor to King Jehoiachin of Judah and brought him out of prison;^(A)

⁴ And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem, and they laid siege to it; they built siegeworks against it all around.^{(A) 5} So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. ⁶ On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine became so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.^{(B) 7} Then a breach was made in the city wall,^[a] and all the soldiers fled and went out from the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, by the King’s Garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. They went in the direction of the Arabah.^{(C) 8} But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered, deserting him.^{(D) 9} Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him.^{(E) 10} The king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and also killed all the officers of Judah at Riblah.^{(F) 11} He put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in fetters, and the king of Babylon took him to Babylon and put him in prison until the day of his death.^(G)