nd Kings _Chapter 25

Zedekiah betrayed the king of Babylon. In the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon led his entire army to attack Jerusalem and camped against the city, building a fortress around it to attack it.

So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

On the ninth day of the fourth month, there was a great famine in the city, and even the people had no food.

The city was breached, and all the soldiers fled at night through the gate between the two cities near the king’s garden. The Chaldeans were besieging the city on all sides, and the king fled to Arabah.

The Chaldean army pursued the king and caught up with him in the plains of Jericho. His entire army has dispersed from him.

The Chaldeans captured the king and brought him to Riblah, the king of Babylon, to judge him.

Killed his sons in front of Zedekiah, gouged out his eyes, bound him with copper chains, and brought him to Babylon.

On the seventh day of the fifth month in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the servant of the king of Babylon and the captain of the guard, came to Jerusalem,

Burn the temple of the Lord and the royal palace with fire, and burn the houses of Jerusalem, the houses of the great households.

The entire army of Chaldeans who followed the captain of the guard demolished the walls around Jerusalem.

At that time, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took away the remaining people of the city, those who had already surrendered to the king of Babylon, and the remaining people of the people.

But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest among the people to repair vineyards and cultivate fields.

The Chaldeans shattered the bronze pillars of the temple of the Lord, as well as the bases and bronze sea of the temple of the Lord, and brought the bronze to Babylon,

And he took away the pot, shovel, wax cutter, spoon, and all the bronze utensils used,

The fire cauldron and bowl, whether they were gold or silver, were all taken by the captain of the guard.

The two bronze pillars, one bronze sea, and several basin bases that Solomon made for the temple of the Lord were so much bronze that they could not be weighed.

This pillar is eighteen cubits high, with a copper crown on it, three cubits high. There are nets and pomegranates around the copper roof, all made of copper. That pillar, like this, also has a net.

The captain of the guard took Silaiah the high priest, Zephanah the deputy priest, and the three gatekeepers,

He also captured an official (or eunuch) in charge of soldiers from the city, and met five common royal faces and the secretary of the chief of the national army, as well as sixty citizens in the city.

Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, brought these people to the king of Babylon in Riblah.

The king of Babylon killed them at Liberah in the land of Hamath. So the Jews were taken captive and left their homeland.

As for the remaining people of Judah, which were left by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, as their governor.

When the commanders of the army and their people heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as the governor, Ishmael the son of Netaniah, Johanan the son of Kareah, Zeraiah the son of Danhumiel the Netophagite, Jazaniah the son of the Maachaite, and their people all went to Mizpah to see Gedaliah.

Gedaliah swore to them and their people, saying, Do not fear the servants of the Chaldeans; stay in this land and serve the king of Babylon, and you will be blessed.

In the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Netaniah, the grandson of the royal family Elishama, came with ten men and killed Gedaliah and the Jews and Chaldeans who were with him in Mizpah.

So all the people, big and small, even the commanders of the army. Because they were afraid of the Chaldeans, they all got up and went to Egypt.

In the thirty seventh year of the captivity of King Jehoiachin of Judah, on the twenty seventh day of the twelfth month in the first year of the reign of King Eevemirod of Babylon, King Jehoiachin of Judah was lifted up and taken out of prison.

And he spoke kindly to him, making his throne higher than the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon,

Take him off his prison uniform. He always eats in front of the king of Babylon throughout his life.

The king gave him the food he needed, and he gave him a portion every day for his entire life.