| NET Bible | Christian Standard Bible |
| 1Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother's name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah. | 1Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah. |
| 2He did what displeased the LORD just as Jehoiakim had done. | 2Zedekiah did what was evil in the LORD's sight just as Jehoiakim had done. |
| 3What follows is a record of what happened to Jerusalem and Judah because of the LORD's anger when he drove them out of his sight. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. | 3Because of the LORD's anger, it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he finally banished them from his presence. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. |
| 4King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and set up camp outside it. They built siege ramps all around it. He arrived on the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year that Zedekiah ruled over Judah. | 4In the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem with his entire army. They laid siege to the city and built a siege wall against it all around. |
| 5The city remained under siege until Zedekiah's eleventh year. | 5The city was under siege until King Zedekiah's eleventh year. |
| 6By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city was so severe the residents had no food. | 6By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that the common people had no food. |
| 7They broke through the city walls, and all the soldiers tried to escape. They left the city during the night. They went through the gate between the two walls that is near the king's garden. (The Babylonians had the city surrounded.) Then they headed for the Jordan Valley. | 7Then the city was broken into, and all the warriors fled. They left the city at night by way of the city gate between the two walls near the king's garden, though the Chaldeans surrounded the city. They made their way along the route to the Arabah. |
| 8But the Babylonian army chased after the king. They caught up with Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and his entire army deserted him. | 8The Chaldean army pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. Zedekiah's entire army left him and scattered. |
| 9They captured him and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the territory of Hamath and he passed sentence on him there. | 9The Chaldeans seized the king and brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him. |
| 10The king of Babylon had Zedekiah's sons put to death while Zedekiah was forced to watch. He also had all the nobles of Judah put to death there at Riblah. | 10At Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah's sons before his eyes, and he also slaughtered the Judean commanders. |
| 11He had Zedekiah's eyes put out and had him bound in chains. Then the king of Babylon had him led off to Babylon and he was imprisoned there until the day he died. | 11Then he blinded Zedekiah and bound him with bronze chains. The king of Babylon brought Zedekiah to Babylon, where he kept him in custody until his dying day. |
| 12On the tenth day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard who served the king of Babylon, arrived in Jerusalem. | 12On the tenth day of the fifth month--which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon--Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, entered Jerusalem as the representative of the king of Babylon. |
| 13He burned down the LORD's temple, the royal palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem, including every large house. | 13He burned the LORD's temple, the king's palace, all the houses of Jerusalem; he burned down all the great houses. |
| 14The whole Babylonian army that came with the captain of the royal guard tore down the walls that surrounded Jerusalem. | 14The whole Chaldean army with the captain of the guards tore down all the walls surrounding Jerusalem. |
| 15Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, took into exile some of the poor, the rest of the people who remained in the city, those who had deserted to him, and the rest of the craftsmen. | 15Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, deported some of the poorest of the people, as well as the rest of the people who remained in the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen. |
| 16But he left behind some of the poor and gave them fields and vineyards. | 16But Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and farmers. |
| 17The Babylonians broke the two bronze pillars in the temple of the LORD, as well as the movable stands and the large bronze basin called the "The Sea." They took all the bronze to Babylon. | 17Now the Chaldeans broke into pieces the bronze pillars for the LORD's temple and the water carts and the bronze basin that were in the LORD's temple, and they carried all the bronze to Babylon. |
| 18They also took the pots, shovels, trimming shears, basins, pans, and all the bronze utensils used by the priests. | 18They also took the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling basins, dishes, and all the bronze articles used in the temple service. |
| 19The captain of the royal guard took the gold and silver bowls, censers, basins, pots, lampstands, pans, and vessels. | 19The captain of the guards took away the bowls, firepans, sprinkling basins, pots, lampstands, pans, and drink offering bowls--whatever was gold or silver. |
| 20The bronze of the items that King Solomon made for the LORD's temple (including the two pillars, the large bronze basin called "The Sea," the twelve bronze bulls under "The Sea," and the movable stands) was too heavy to be weighed. | 20As for the two pillars, the one basin, with the twelve bronze oxen under it, and the water carts that King Solomon had made for the LORD's temple, the weight of the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure. |
| 21Each of the pillars was about 27 feet high, about 18 feet in circumference, three inches thick, and hollow. | 21One pillar was 27 feet tall, had a circumference of 18 feet, was hollow--four fingers thick-- |
| 22The bronze top of one pillar was about seven and one-half feet high and had bronze latticework and pomegranate-shaped ornaments all around it. The second pillar with its pomegranate-shaped ornaments was like it. | 22and had a bronze capital on top of it. One capital, encircled by bronze grating and pomegranates, stood 7 1/2 feet high. The second pillar was the same, with pomegranates. |
| 23There were ninety-six pomegranate-shaped ornaments on the sides; in all there were one hundred pomegranate-shaped ornaments over the latticework that went around it. | 23Each capital had ninety-six pomegranates all around it. All the pomegranates around the grating numbered one hundred. |
| 24The captain of the royal guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest who was second in rank, and the three doorkeepers. | 24The captain of the guards also took away Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest of the second rank, and the three doorkeepers. |
| 25From the city he took an official who was in charge of the soldiers, seven of the king's advisers who were discovered in the city, an official army secretary who drafted citizens for military service, and sixty citizens who were discovered in the middle of the city. | 25From the city he took a court official who had been appointed over the warriors; seven trusted royal aides found in the city; the secretary of the commander of the army, who enlisted the people of the land for military duty; and sixty men from the common people who were found within the city. |
| 26Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. | 26Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. |
| 27The king of Babylon ordered them to be executed at Riblah in the territory of Hamath. So Judah was taken into exile away from its land. | 27The king of Babylon put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah went into exile from its land. |
| 28Here is the official record of the number of people Nebuchadnezzar carried into exile: In the seventh year, 3,023 Jews; | 28These are the people Nebuchadnezzar deported: in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews; |
| 29in Nebuchadnezzar's eighteenth year, 832 people from Jerusalem; | 29in his eighteenth year, 832 people from Jerusalem; |
| 30in Nebuchadnezzar's twenty-third year, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, carried into exile 745 Judeans. In all 4,600 people went into exile. | 30in Nebuchadnezzar's twenty-third year, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, deported 745 Jews. Altogether, 4,600 people were deported. |
| 31In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month, Evil-Merodach, in the first year of his reign, pardoned King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him from prison. | 31On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Judah's King Jehoiachin, King Evil-merodach of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, pardoned King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him from prison. |
| 32He spoke kindly to him and gave him a more prestigious position than the other kings who were with him in Babylon. | 32He spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon. |
| 33Jehoiachin took off his prison clothes and ate daily in the king's presence for the rest of his life. | 33So Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes, and he dined regularly in the presence of the king of Babylon for the rest of his life. |
| 34He was given daily provisions by the king of Babylon for the rest of his life until the day he died. | 34As for his allowance, a regular allowance was given to him by the king of Babylon, a portion for each day until the day of his death, for the rest of his life. |
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