SECOND KINGS

 

2 Kings Chapter 25

1 ¶ In the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his entire army, and laid siege to it; and they built siege works against it round about.

2 And the city was besieged until the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.

3 And on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city, there was no food for the people of the land.

4 And the city was broken through, and the king and all the men of war fled by night through the gate between two walls, by the king’s garden: (though the Chaldeans were attacking the city from all sides:) and the king took the road toward the Jordan valley.

5 And the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and his whole army left him and were scattered.

6 So they captured the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah; and they passed sentence on him.

7 And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon.

8 ¶ On the seventh day of the fifth month, during the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem:

9 And he burned the temple of the LORD, and the king’s palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem, he burned down every great house with fire.

10 And the entire Chaldean army, that was with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls of Jerusalem all around.

11 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile the rest of the people left in the city, and the deserters who deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.

12 But the captain of the guard left the poor of the land to be vinedressers and farmers.

13 And the Chaldeans broke in pieces the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the stands, and the brass sea that was in the house of the LORD, and carried the brass to Babylon.

14 And they took away the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass used in temple service.

15 And the firepans, the bowls, and such things as were of gold, the captain of the guard took away as gold, and what was silver, as silver.

16 The brass of the two pillars, the sea, and the stands that Solomon made for the house of the LORD; could not be weighed.

17 The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the capital on top of it was brass: and the height of the capital was three cubits; and the network, and pomegranates all around upon the capital, were all of brass: and the second pillar was like these with a 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 an officer who was in command of the men of war, and five men who were the king’s personal advisors, who were found in the city, and the scribe of the captain of the army, who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people who were found in the city:

20 And Nebuzaradan captain of the guard took these, and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah:

21 And the king of Babylon cut them down, and killed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away from their land.

22 ¶ As for the people who remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, the ruler over them.

23 Now when all the captains of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the governor, they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, including Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Careah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men.

24 And Gedaliah swore to them, and to their men, and said to them, Do not be afraid to be the subjects of the Chaldeans: live in the land, and serve the king of Babylon; and it will be well with you.

25 But in the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal family, came, and ten men with him, and killed Gedaliah, and the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.

26 And all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose, and went to Egypt: for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

27 And during the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon during the year he began to reign showed favor to Jehoiachin the king of Judah releasing him from prison;

28 And he spoke kindly to him, and gave him a seat higher than the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon;

29 And changed his prison garments: and he ate his food regularly at the king’s table all the days of his life.

30 And his allowance was a continual one given to him by the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life.