Jeremiah 52:12-23

Common English Bible

¹² In the tenth day of the fifth month, which was the nineteenth year of Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan commander of the guard came to Jerusalem on behalf of his king. ¹³ He burned down the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the important buildings. ¹⁴ The entire Babylonian army and the commander of the guard destroyed the walls surrounding Jerusalem. ¹⁵ Nebuzaradan commander of the guard deported some of the poorest people, the rest of the people left in the city, a few skilled workers, and those who had joined the king of Babylon. ¹⁶ But Nebuzaradan commander of the guard left some of the poor to tend the vineyards and till the land.

¹⁷ The Babylonians broke apart the bronze columns, the stands, and the bronze Sea in the Lord’s temple. They carried the bronze to Babylon. ¹⁸ They took the pots, the shovels, the wick trimmers, the sprinkling bowls, the incense dishes, and all the bronze equipment used for the temple services. ¹⁹ The commander of the guard took whatever gold or silver he could find as well: the small bowls, the fire pans, the sprinkling bowls, the pots, the lampstands, the basins, and the offering bowls. ²⁰ There was too much bronze to be weighed: two columns, the bronze Sea and the twelve bronze bulls that held it up, and the stands, all of which Solomon had made for the Lord’s temple. ²¹ Each column was about twenty-seven feet high and eighteen feet around. They were hollow, but the bronze was about three inches thick. ²² Each had a capital of bronze above it that towered seven and a half feet high, and each had an ornate design of bronze pomegranates around it. The second column was the same, also with pomegranates. ²³ There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides, a total of one hundred pomegranates around the ornate design.