2nd Kings — 25

The Fall and Captivity of Yahudah

1 Now it came to pass in the ninth year of Zadakyahu reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nabuchadnazzar king of Babylun and all his army came against Yahushalam and encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around. 

2 So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zadakyahu. 

3 By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.

4 Then the city wall was broken through, and all the men of war fled at night by way of the gate between two walls, which was by the king’s garden, even though the Chaldaans were still encamped all around against the city. And the king went by way of the plain. 

5 But the army of the Chaldaans pursued the king, and they overtook him in the plains of Yarichu. All his army was scattered from him.

6 So they took the king Zadakyahu and brought him up to the king of Babylun at Riblah, and they pronounced judgment on him. 

7 Then they killed the sons of Zadakyahu before his eyes, put out the eyes of Zadakyahu, bound him with bronze fetters, and took him to Babylun.

8 And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month (which was the nineteenth year of King Nabuchadnazzar king of Babylun), Nabuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylun, came to Yahushalam. 

9 He burned the house of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH and the king’s house; all the houses of Yahushalam, that is, all the houses of the great, he burned with fire. 

10 And all the army of the Chaldaans who were with the captain of the guard broke down the walls of Yahushalam all around.

11 Then Nabuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive the rest of the people who remained in the city and the defectors who had deserted to the king of Babylun, with the rest of the multitude. 

12 But the captain of the guard left some of the poor of the land as vinedressers and farmers. 

13 The bronze pillars that were in the house of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH, and the carts and the bronze Sea that were in the house of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH, the Chaldaans broke in pieces, and carried their bronze to Babylun. 

14 They also took away the pots, the shovels, the trimmers, the spoons, and all the bronze utensils with which the Kuhanym ministered. 

15 The firepans and the basins, the things of solid gold and solid silver, the captain of the guard took away. 

16 The two pillars, one Sea, and the carts, which Shalumah had made for the house of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH, the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure. 

17 The height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the capital on it was of bronze. The height of the capital was three cubits, and the network and pomegranates all around the capital were all of bronze. The second pillar was the same, with a network.

18 And the captain of the guard took Sarayahu the chief Kuhan, Zaphanyahu the second Kuhan, and the three doorkeepers. 

19 He also took out of the city an officer who had charge of the men of war, five men of the king’s close associates who were found in the city, the chief recruiting officer of the army, who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city. 

20 So Nabuzaradan, captain of the guard, took these and brought them to the king of Babylun at Riblah. 

21 Then the king of Babylun struck them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Yahudah was carried away captive from its own land.

Gadalyahu Made Governor of Yahudah

22 Then he made Gadalyahu the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor over the people who remained in the land of Yahudah, whom Nabuchadnazzar king of Babylun had left. 

23 Now when all the captains of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylun had made Gadalyahu governor, they came to Gadalyahu at Mizpah, Ishmaal the son of Nathanyahu, Yuhanan the son of Caraah, Sarayahu the son of Tanhumath the Natuphathite, and Yaazanyahu the son of a Maachathite, they and their men. 

24 And Gadalyahu took an oath before them and their men, and said to them, “Do not be afraid of the servants of the Chaldaans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylun, and it shall be well with you.”

25 But it happened in the seventh month that Ishmaal the son of Nathanyahu, the son of Alishama, of the royal family, came with ten men and struck and killed Gadalyahu the Yahudym, as well as the Chaldaans who were with him at Mizpah. 

26 And all the people, small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose and went to Mitzraym; for they were afraid of the Chaldaans.

Yahuiachin Released from Prison

27 Now it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Yahuiachin king of Yahudah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, that Avil-Marudach king of Babylun, in the year that he began to reign, released Yahuiachin king of Yahudah from prison. 

28 He spoke kindly to him, and gave him a more prominent seat than those of the kings who were with him in Babylun. 

29 So Yahuiachin changed from his prison garments, and he ate bread regularly before the king all the days of his life. 

30 And as for his provisions, there was a regular ration given him by the king, a portion for each day, all the days of his life.