1. And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came, he and all his host, against Jerusalem and pitched against it; and they built forts against it round about.
2. And the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
3. And on the ninth of the month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.
4. And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which is by the king’s garden, with the Chaldees round about the city; and they went by the way of the plain.
5. And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, after all his army had been scattered from him.
6. So they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah, and they sentenced him.
7. And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him with fetters of brass and carried him to Babylon.
8. And in the fifth month, on the seventh of the month, which was the year nineteen of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a slave of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
9. And he burnt the house of the Lord and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man’s house he burnt with fire.
10. And all the army of the Chaldees, that were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls of Jerusalem round about.
11. Now the rest of the people that were left in the city and the fugitives that fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, carried away.
12. But the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen.
13. And the Chaldees broke in pieces the pillars of brass that were in the house of the Lord and the bases and the brasen sea that was in the house of the Lord and carried the brass of them to Babylon.
14. They also took away the pots and the shovels and the snuffers and the spoons and all the vessels of brass, with which they ministered.
15. And the censers and the bowls and such things as were of gold in gold and of silver in silver the captain of the guard took away, also
16. the two pillars, one sea, and the bases which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord; the brass of all these vessels was without weight.
17. The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the chapiter upon it was brass; and the height of the chapiter three cubits, and network and pomegranates upon the chapiter round about, all of brass; and the second pillar was like the first with network.
18. And the captain of the guard took Seraiah, the chief priest, and Zephaniah, the second priest, and the three keepers of the door;
19. and out of the city he took a eunuch, that was set over the men of war, and five men of those that were in the king’s presence, who were found in the city, and the principal scribe of the host, who mustered the people of the land, with sixty men of the people of the land that were found in the city.
20. Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, took these and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah.
21. And the king of Babylon smote and slew them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away out of their land.
22. And as for the people whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, left in the land of Judah, he made Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor over them.
23. And when all the captains of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Careah, and Seraiah, the son of Tanhumeth, the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah, the son of Maachathi, they and their men.
24. Then Gedaliah swore to them and to their men and said unto them, Do not fear the slaves of the Chaldees; dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.
25. But in the seventh month, Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama of the royal seed, came and ten men with him and smote Gedaliah, that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him at Mizpah.
26. Then all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose and went to Egypt, for they were afraid of the Chaldees.
27. And it came to pass after thirty-seven years of the captivity of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, that Evilmerodach, king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, out of the prison house;
28. and he spoke kindly to him and set his seat above the seats of the kings that were with him in Babylon.
29. And he changed his prison garments, and he ate bread continually before him all the days of his life.
30. And the king caused him to be given his food continually, each thing in its time, all the days of his life.