CHAPTER 52
Zedekiah
was twenty-one
years
old
when he became king,
and he reigned
in Jerusalem
eleven
years.
His mother’s
name
was Hamutal
daughter
of Jeremiah;
she was from Libnah.
For
because
of the anger
of the LORD,
all this happened
in Jerusalem
and Judah,
until
He finally banished
them
from
His presence.
And Zedekiah also
rebelled
against the king
of Babylon.
So
in the ninth
year
of Zedekiah’s reign,
on the tenth
day of the tenth
month,
King
Nebuchadnezzar
of Babylon
marched
against
Jerusalem
with his entire
army.
They encamped
outside the city
and built
a siege wall
all around it.
By the ninth day
of the fourth
month,
the famine
in the city
was so severe
that the people
of the land
had
no
food.
Then the city
was breached,
and though the Chaldeans
had surrounded
the city,
all
the men
of war
fled.
the city
by night
by way
of the gate
between
the two walls
near
the king’s
garden.
They fled
toward
the Arabah,
but the army
of the Chaldeans
pursued
the king
and overtook
Zedekiah
in the plains
of Jericho,
and all
his army
was separated
from him.
The Chaldeans seized
the king
and brought him up
to
the king
of Babylon
at Riblah
in the land
of Hamath,
where he pronounced
judgment
on Zedekiah.
There at Riblah
the king
of Babylon
slaughtered
Zedekiah’s
sons
before his eyes,
and he also killed
all
the officials
of Judah.
Then he put out
Zedekiah’s
eyes,
bound
him
in bronze shackles
and took him
to Babylon,
where
he kept
him in custody
until
his dying
day.
On the tenth
day of the fifth
month,
in the nineteenth
year
of Nebuchadnezzar's
reign
over Babylon,
Nebuzaradan
the captain
of the guard,
a servant
of the king
of Babylon,
entered
Jerusalem.
He burned down
the house
of the LORD,
the royal
palace,
and all
the houses
of Jerusalem—
every
significant
building.
And the whole
army
of the Chaldeans
under
the captain
of the guard
broke down
all
the walls
around
Jerusalem.
Then Nebuzaradan
the captain
of the guard
carried into exile
some of the poorest
people
and
those who remained
in the city,
along with
the deserters
who
had defected
to
the king
of Babylon
and the rest
of the craftsmen.
But Nebuzaradan
the captain
of the guard
left behind
the rest of the poor
of the land
to be vinedressers
and farmers.
Moreover,
the Chaldeans
broke up
the bronze
pillars
and
the stands
and the bronze
sea
in the house
of the LORD,
and they carried
all
the bronze
to Babylon.
They also took away
the pots,
shovels,
wick trimmers,
sprinkling basins,
dishes,
and all
the articles
of bronze
used in the temple service.
The captain
of the guard
also took away
the bowls,
censers,
sprinkling basins,
pots,
lampstands,
pans,
and drink offering bowls—
anything made of
pure gold
or fine silver.
As for the two
pillars,
the
sea,
the twelve
bronze
bulls
under it,
and the movable stands
that
King
Solomon
had made
for the house
of the LORD,
the weight
of the bronze
from all
these
articles
was beyond measure.
Each
pillar
was eighteen
cubits
tall
and twelve
cubits
in circumference;
each was hollow,
four
fingers
thick.
The bronze
capital
atop
one pillar
was five
cubits
high,
with a network
of bronze
pomegranates
all around.
The second
pillar,
with its pomegranates,
was similar.
Each capital had
ninety-six
pomegranates
all around it.
All the pomegranates
around
the latticework
numbered a hundred.
The captain
of the guard
also took away
Seraiah
the chief
priest,
Zephaniah
the priest
of the second rank,
and the three
doorkeepers.
Of those
still in the city,
he took
a
court official
who
had been
appointed
over
the men
of war,
seven
trusted royal
advisers,
as well as
the scribe
of the captain
of the army,
who enlisted
the people
of the land,
and sixty
men
who were found
in
the city.
Nebuzaradan
the captain
of the guard
took
them
and brought
them to
the king
of Babylon
at Riblah.
There at Riblah
in the land
of Hamath,
The king
of Babylon
struck
them down
and put them to death.
So Judah
was taken into exile,
away from
her land.
in Nebuchadnezzar’s
twenty-third
year,
Nebuzaradan
the captain
of the guard
carried away
745
Jews.
So altogether,
4,600
people were taken away.
Now
on the twenty-fifth
day of the twelfth
month
of the thirty-seventh
year
of the exile
of Jehoiachin
king
of Judah,
in the first year
of the reign
of Evil-merodach
king
of Babylon,
he pardoned
Jehoiachin
king
of Judah
and released
him from
prison.
He spoke
kindly
to Jehoiachin
and set
his throne
above
the thrones
of the other kings
with him
in Babylon.
So Jehoiachin changed
his prison
clothes,
and he dined
regularly
at the king’s table
for the rest
of his days.
And the king
of Babylon
allotted
to him
a daily
portion
for the rest
of his life,
until
the day
of his death.