2 Kings 25:1-16 ▼

1 Now in the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his military force, against Jerusalem, and he camped against it and built a siege wall all around it.

2 So the city came under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

3 On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so strong in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.

4 Then the city was broken into, and all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls beside the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. And they went by way of the Arabah.

5 But the military force of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho and all his military force was scattered from him.

6 Then they seized the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they spoke their judgment on him.

7 And they slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; then he blinded the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon.

8 Now on the seventh day of the fifth month, which was 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 house of Yahweh, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; even every great house he burned with fire.

10 So all the military force of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard tore down the walls around Jerusalem.

11 Then the rest of the people who were left in the city and the defectors who had defected to the king of Babylon and the rest of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took away into exile.

12 But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.

13 Now the bronze pillars which were in the house of Yahweh, and the stands and the bronze sea which were in the house of Yahweh, the Chaldeans shattered and carried the bronze to Babylon.

14 They also took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the spoons, and all the bronze vessels which were used to minister.

15 The captain of the guard also took away the firepans and the bowls, what was fine gold and what was fine silver.

16 The two pillars, the one sea, and the stands which Solomon had made for the house of Yahweh—the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weight.