⁶ These are the people of the province who came up out of the captivity of those exiles whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had carried into exile; they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his town.^(A)

⁸ May it be known to the king that we went to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. It is being built of hewn stone, and timber is laid in the walls; this work is being done diligently and prospers in their hands.

List of the Returned Exiles

2 Now these are the people of the province who came from those captive exiles whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had carried captive to Babylon; they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, all to their own towns.^{(A) 2} They came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah.

The number of the Israelite people: ³ the descendants of Parosh, two thousand one hundred seventy-two. ⁴ Of Shephatiah, three hundred seventy-two. ⁵ Of Arah, seven hundred seventy-five.^{(B) 6} Of Pahath-moab, namely, the descendants of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred twelve.^{(C) 7} Of Elam, one thousand two hundred fifty-four. ⁸ Of Zattu, nine hundred forty-five. ⁹ Of Zaccai, seven hundred sixty. ¹⁰ Of Bani, six hundred forty-two. ¹¹ Of Bebai, six hundred twenty-three. ¹² Of Azgad, one thousand two hundred twenty-two. ¹³ Of Adonikam, six hundred sixty-six. ¹⁴ Of Bigvai, two thousand fifty-six. ¹⁵ Of Adin, four hundred fifty-four. ¹⁶ Of Ater, namely, of Hezekiah, ninety-eight.^{(D) 17} Of Bezai, three hundred twenty-three. ¹⁸ Of Jorah, one hundred twelve. ¹⁹ Of Hashum, two hundred twenty-three. ²⁰ Of Gibbar, ninety-five. ²¹ Of Bethlehem, one hundred twenty-three.^{(E) 22} The people of Netophah, fifty-six. ²³ Of Anathoth, one hundred twenty-eight. ²⁴ The descendants of Azmaveth, forty-two. ²⁵ Of Kiriatharim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred forty-three. ²⁶ Of Ramah and Geba, six hundred twenty-one. ²⁷ The people of Michmas, one hundred twenty-two. ²⁸ Of Bethel and Ai, two hundred twenty-three. ²⁹ The descendants of Nebo, fifty-two. ³⁰ Of Magbish, one hundred fifty-six. ³¹ Of the other Elam, one thousand two hundred fifty-four.^{(F) 32} Of Harim, three hundred twenty. ³³ Of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, seven hundred twenty-five. ³⁴ Of Jericho, three hundred forty-five. ³⁵ Of Senaah, three thousand six hundred thirty.

³⁶ The priests: the descendants of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred seventy-three.^{(G) 37} Of Immer, one thousand fifty-two. ³⁸ Of Pashhur, one thousand two hundred forty-seven.^{(H) 39} Of Harim, one thousand seventeen.^(I)

⁴⁰ The Levites: the descendants of Jeshua and Kadmiel, of the descendants of Hodaviah, seventy-four. ⁴¹ The singers: the descendants of Asaph, one hundred twenty-eight. ⁴² The descendants of the gatekeepers: of Shallum, of Ater, of Talmon, of Akkub, of Hatita, and of Shobai, in all one hundred thirty-nine.

⁴³ The temple servants: the descendants of Ziha, Hasupha, Tabbaoth,^{(J) 44} Keros, Siaha, Padon, ⁴⁵ Lebanah, Hagabah, Akkub, ⁴⁶ Hagab, Shamlai, Hanan, ⁴⁷ Giddel, Gahar, Reaiah, ⁴⁸ Rezin, Nekoda, Gazzam,^{(K) 49} Uzza, Paseah, Besai, ⁵⁰ Asnah, Meunim, Nephisim, ⁵¹ Bakbuk, Hakupha, Harhur, ⁵² Bazluth, Mehida, Harsha, ⁵³ Barkos, Sisera, Temah, ⁵⁴ Neziah, and Hatipha.

⁵⁵ The descendants of Solomon’s servants: Sotai, Hassophereth, Peruda,^{(L) 56} Jaalah, Darkon, Giddel, ⁵⁷ Shephatiah, Hattil, Pochereth-hazzebaim, and Ami.

⁵⁸ All the temple servants and the descendants of Solomon’s servants were three hundred ninety-two.^(M)

⁵⁹ The following were those who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer, though they could not prove their families or their descent, whether they belonged to Israel: ⁶⁰ the descendants of Delaiah, Tobiah, and Nekoda, six hundred fifty-two. ⁶¹ Also, of the descendants of the priests: the descendants of Habaiah, Hakkoz, and Barzillai (who had married one of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by their name).^{(N) 62} These looked for their entries in the genealogical records, but they were not found there, so they were excluded from the priesthood as unclean;^{(O) 63} the governor told them that they were not to partake of the most holy food until there should be a priest to consult Urim and Thummim.^(P)

⁶⁴ The whole assembly together was forty-two thousand three hundred sixty,^{(Q) 65} besides their male and female servants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty-seven, and they had two hundred male and female singers. ⁶⁶ They had seven hundred thirty-six horses, two hundred forty-five mules, ⁶⁷ four hundred thirty-five camels, and six thousand seven hundred twenty donkeys.

⁶⁸ As soon as they came to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, some of the heads of families made freewill offerings for the house of God, to erect it on its site. ⁶⁹ According to their resources they gave to the building fund sixty-one thousand darics of gold, five thousand minas of silver, and one hundred priestly robes.^(R)

⁷⁰ The priests, the Levites, and some of the people, as well as the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants, lived in their towns and all Israel in their towns.

The Destruction of Jerusalem Reviewed

52 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign; he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.^{(A) 2} He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, just as Jehoiakim had done.^{(B) 3} Indeed, Jerusalem and Judah so angered the Lord that he expelled them from his presence.

Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.^{(C) 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.^{(D) 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.^{(E) 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.^{(F) 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.^{(G) 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.^{(H) 10} The king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and also killed all the officers of Judah at Riblah.^{(I) 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.^(J)

¹² In the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month—which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the captain of the bodyguard who served the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem.^{(K) 13} He burned the house of the Lord, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down.^{(L) 14} All the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls around Jerusalem.^{(M) 15} Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile some of the poorest of the people and the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the artisans.^{(N) 16} But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poorest people of the land to be vinedressers and tillers of the soil.^(O)

¹⁷ The pillars of bronze that were in the house of the Lord, and the stands and the bronze sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces and carried all the bronze to Babylon.^{(P) 18} They took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the basins, the ladles, and all the vessels of bronze used in the temple service.^{(Q) 19} The captain of the guard took away the small bowls also, the firepans, the basins, the pots, the lampstands, the ladles, and the bowls for libation, both those of gold and those of silver.^{(R) 20} As for the two pillars, the one sea, the twelve bronze bulls that were under the stands, which King Solomon had made for the house of the Lord, the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weighing.^{(S) 21} As for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits; its circumference was twelve cubits; it was hollow, and its thickness was four fingers.^{(T) 22} Upon it was a capital of bronze; the height of the capital was five cubits; latticework and pomegranates, all of bronze, encircled the top of the capital. And the second pillar had the same, with pomegranates.^{(U) 23} There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates encircling the latticework numbered one hundred.

²⁴ The captain of the guard took the chief priest Seraiah, the second priest Zephaniah, and the three guardians of the threshold.^{(V) 25} From the city he took an officer who had been in command of the soldiers, seven men of the king’s council who were found in the city; the secretary of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land who were found inside the city. ²⁶ Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.^{(W) 27} And the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah went into exile out of its land.^(X)

²⁸ This is the number of the people whom Nebuchadrezzar took into exile: in the seventh year, three thousand twenty-three Judeans;^{(Y) 29} in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar he took into exile from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty-two persons; ³⁰ in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadrezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took into exile of the Judeans seven hundred forty-five persons; all the persons were four thousand six hundred.^(Z)

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;^{(AA) 32} he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. ³³ So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes, and every day of his life he dined regularly at the king’s table.^{(AB) 34} For his allowance, a regular daily allowance was given him by the king of Babylon, as long as he lived, up to the day of his death.^(AC)

The Fall of Jerusalem

39 This is how Jerusalem was captured:^[a] in the ninth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, in the tenth month, King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and besieged it;^{(A) 2} in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city.^{(B) 3} Then all the officials of the king of Babylon came and sat in the middle gate: Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim the Rabsaris, Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag, with all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon.^{(C) 4} When King Zedekiah of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled, going out of the city at night by way of the King’s Garden through the gate between the two walls, and they went toward the Arabah.^{(D) 5} But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and when they had taken him, they brought him up to King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him.^{(E) 6} The king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah at Riblah before his eyes; also the king of Babylon slaughtered all the nobles of Judah.^{(F) 7} He put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in fetters to take him to Babylon.^{(G) 8} The Chaldeans burned with fire the king’s house and the houses of the people and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.^{(H) 9} Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard exiled to Babylon the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had deserted to him, and the rest of the people who remained.^{(I) 10} Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.^(J)

Jeremiah, Set Free, Remembers Ebed-melech

¹¹ King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon gave command concerning Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, saying,^{(K) 12} “Take him, look after him well, and do him no harm, but deal with him as he may ask you.” ¹³ So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, Nebushazban the Rabsaris, Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon sent ¹⁴ and took Jeremiah from the court of the guard. They entrusted him to Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan to be brought home. So he stayed with his own people.^(L)

¹⁵ The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah while he was confined in the court of the guard: ¹⁶ Go and say to Ebed-melech the Cushite: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to fulfill my words against this city for evil and not for good, and they shall be accomplished in your presence on that day.^{(M) 17} But I will save you on that day, says the Lord, and you shall not be handed over to those whom you dread.^{(N) 18} For I will surely save you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but you shall have your life as a prize of war, because you have trusted in me, says the Lord.^(O)

² But it was in Ecbatana, the capital in the province of Media, that a scroll was found on which this was written: “A record.

Reign of Jehoahaz

36 The people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and made him king to succeed his father in Jerusalem.^{(A) 2} Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign; he reigned three months in Jerusalem. ³ Then the king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and laid on the land a tribute of one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold. ⁴ The king of Egypt made his brother Eliakim king over Judah and Jerusalem and changed his name to Jehoiakim, but Neco took his brother Jehoahaz and carried him to Egypt.

Reign and Captivity of Jehoiakim

⁵ Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God.^{(B) 6} Against him King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came up and bound him with fetters to take him to Babylon.^{(C) 7} Nebuchadnezzar also carried some of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon and put them in his palace in Babylon.^{(D) 8} Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and the abominations that he did and what was found against him are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah, and his son Jehoiachin succeeded him.^(E)

Reign and Captivity of Jehoiachin

⁹ Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign; he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.^{(F) 10} In the spring of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, along with the precious vessels of the house of the Lord, and made his brother Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.^(G)

Reign of Zedekiah

¹¹ Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign; he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.^{(H) 12} He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. He did not humble himself before the prophet Jeremiah who spoke from the mouth of the Lord.^{(I) 13} He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God; he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord, the God of Israel.^{(J) 14} All the leading priests and the people also were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations, and they polluted the house of the Lord that he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

The Fall of Jerusalem

¹⁵ The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place,^{(K) 16} but they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words, and scoffing at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord against his people became so great that there was no remedy.^(L)

¹⁷ Therefore he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their youths with the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion on young man or young woman, the aged or the feeble; he gave them all into his hand.^{(M) 18} All the vessels of the house of God, large and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and of his officials, all these he brought to Babylon.^{(N) 19} They burned the house of God, broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all its precious vessels.^{(O) 20} He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia,^{(P) 21} to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had made up for its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.^(Q)

Cyrus Proclaims Liberty for the Exiles

²² In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord stirred up the spirit of King Cyrus of Persia so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also in writing, saying:^{(R) 23} “Thus says King Cyrus of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Let any of those among you who are of his people—may the Lord their God be with them!—go up.”^(S)

¹¹ Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon—all the rest of the multitude.^(A)

¹⁴ He carried away all Jerusalem, all the officials, all the warriors, ten thousand captives, all the artisans and the smiths; no one remained except the poorest people of the land.^{(A) 15} He carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon; the king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officials, and the elite of the land, he took into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.^{(B) 16} The king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon all the men of valor, seven thousand, the artisans and the smiths, one thousand, all of them strong and fit for war.^(C)