20. Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
21. Then the king of Babylon struck them down and killed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath; thus Judah was removed from its land.
22. Now as far as the people left in Judah whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon left behind, he appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan over them.
23. When all of the commanders of the troops heard, they and the men, that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan the son of Kareah, Seriah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men.
24. Gedaliah swore to them and to their men, and he said to them, “You must not be afraid because of the Chaldeans. Settle in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and may it go well with you.”
25. But it happened in the seventh month that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah the son of Elishama from the offspring of the kingship came, and ten men with him, and they struck down Gedaliah so that he died with the Judeans and with the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.
26. Then all the people, from youngest to oldest, and the commanders of the troops, went to Egypt, for they were afraid of the presence of the Chaldeans.
27. It happened in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month on the twenty-seventh of the month, lifted Evil-Merodach king of Babylon in the year that he became king, the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah from the house of imprisonment.
28. He spoke kindly to him, and he gave him a better seat than the seat of the kings who were with him in Babylon.
29. So he changed the clothes of his imprisonment, and he ate food continually in his presence all the days of his life.
30. His allowance was continually given to him from the king, a portion every day all the days of his life.