²⁸ The number of captives taken to Babylon in the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign^[a] was 3,023.

Daniel in Nebuchadnezzar’s Court

1 During the third year of King Jehoiakim’s reign in Judah,^[a] King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. ² The Lord gave him victory over King Jehoiakim of Judah and permitted him to take some of the sacred objects from the Temple of God. So Nebuchadnezzar took them back to the land of Babylonia^[b] and placed them in the treasure-house of his god.

³ Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, his chief of staff, to bring to the palace some of the young men of Judah’s royal family and other noble families, who had been brought to Babylon as captives.

¹² Then King Jehoiachin, along with the queen mother, his advisers, his commanders, and his officials, surrendered to the Babylonians.

In the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, he took Jehoiachin prisoner. ¹³ As the Lord had said beforehand, Nebuchadnezzar carried away all the treasures from the Lord’s Temple and the royal palace. He stripped away^[a] all the gold objects that King Solomon of Israel had placed in the Temple. ¹⁴ King Nebuchadnezzar took all of Jerusalem captive, including all the commanders and the best of the soldiers, craftsmen, and artisans—10,000 in all. Only the poorest people were left in the land.

¹⁵ Nebuchadnezzar led King Jehoiachin away as a captive to Babylon, along with the queen mother, his wives and officials, and all Jerusalem’s elite. ¹⁶ He also exiled 7,000 of the best troops and 1,000 craftsmen and artisans, all of whom were strong and fit for war.

² Then the Lord sent bands of Babylonian,^[a] Aramean, Moabite, and Ammonite raiders against Judah to destroy it, just as the Lord had promised through his prophets. ³ These disasters happened to Judah because of the Lord’s command. He had decided to banish Judah from his presence because of the many sins of Manasseh,

²⁰ The few who survived were taken as exiles to Babylon, and they became servants to the king and his sons until the kingdom of Persia came to power.