¹² Now in the fifth month, on the tenth day, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. ¹³ He burned down the house of the Lord and the king’s palace and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house or important structure he set on fire. ¹⁴ So all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls around Jerusalem. ¹⁵ Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took away into exile some of the poorest of the people, those who were left in the city [at the time it was captured], along with those who deserted to join the king of Babylon [during the siege] and the rest of the artisans. ¹⁶ But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and farmers.

¹⁷ Now the Chaldeans broke into pieces the pillars of bronze which belonged to the house of the Lord, and the bronze pedestals [which supported the ten basins] and the [enormous] bronze Sea, which were in the house of the Lord, and carried all the bronze to Babylon. ¹⁸ They also took away the pots [for carrying away ashes] and the shovels and the snuffers and the bowls and the spoons and all the bronze articles used in the temple service. ¹⁹ The captain of the guard also took away the [small] bowls and the firepans and the basins and the pots and the lampstands and the incense cups and the bowls for the drink offerings—whatever was made of fine gold and whatever was made of fine silver. ²⁰ The two pillars, the one [enormous] Sea (basin), and ^[a]the twelve bronze bulls under the Sea, and the stands, which King Solomon had made for the house of the Lord—the bronze of all these things was beyond weighing. ²¹ Concerning the pillars, the height of each pillar was eighteen cubits (twenty-seven feet), and a line [an ornamental molding] of twelve cubits (eighteen feet) went around its circumference; it was four fingers thick, and [the pillar was] hollow. ²² A capital of bronze was on [top of] it. The height of each capital was five cubits (seven and one-half feet), with a lattice-work and pomegranates around it, all of bronze. The second pillar also, with its pomegranates, was similar to these. ²³ There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; and a hundred pomegranates were on the lattice-work all around.