1And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built against it a siege wall round about.
2And the city came into the siege until the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.
3On the ninth of the month the famine grew strong in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.
4And the city was breached, and all the men (ish) of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls which was by the king's garden, and the Chaldeans were against the city round about; and he went by the way of the Arabah.
5And the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and they overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from upon him.
6And they seized the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they spoke judgment (mishpat) with him.
7And they slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and the eyes of Zedekiah he blinded, and bound him with bronze fetters, and brought him to Babylon.
8And in the fifth month, on the seventh of the month — it was the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon — Nebuzaradan the chief of the guards, servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
9And he burned the house of YHWH, and the house of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great house he burned with fire.
10And the walls of Jerusalem round about, all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the chief of the guards broke down.
11And the rest of the people who remained in the city, and the fallen-away ones who fell to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the chief of the guards carried into exile.
12And of the poorest of the land the chief of the guards left for vinedressers and for plowmen.
13And the pillars of bronze that were in the house of YHWH, and the bases, and the sea of bronze that was in the house of YHWH, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried their bronze to Babylon.
14And the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the pans, and all the vessels of bronze with which they ministered, they took away.
15And the fire-pans, and the basins, that which was gold, in gold, and that which was silver, in silver, the chief of the guards took away.
16The two pillars, the one sea, and the bases which Solomon had made for the house of YHWH — there was no weight to the bronze of all these vessels.
17Eighteen cubits was the height of the one pillar, and a capital of bronze was upon it, and the height of the capital was three cubits, with a network and pomegranates upon the capital round about, all of bronze; and like these had the second pillar with the network.
18And the chief of the guards took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold.
19And from the city he took one officer who was appointed over the men (ish) of war, and five men (ish) of those who saw the king's face who were found in the city, and the scribe of the captain of the host who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men (ish) of the people of the land who were found in the city.
20And Nebuzaradan the chief of the guards took them, and led them to the king of Babylon to Riblah.
21And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was exiled from upon its ground (adamah).
22And the people who remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left — he appointed over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan.
23And all the captains of the forces, they and the men (ish), heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, and they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men (ish).
24And Gedaliah swore to them and to their men (ish), and said to them, "Do not fear because of the servants of the Chaldeans; dwell in the land and serve (avad) the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you."
25And it came to pass in the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed of the kingship, came, and ten men (ish) with him, and they smote Gedaliah, and he died, and the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.
26And all the people, from small to great, and the captains of the forces, arose and came to Egypt, for they were afraid from before the Chaldeans.
27And it came to pass in the thirty and seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty and seventh of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah from the house of imprisonment.
28And he spoke good things with him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon.
29And he changed his garments of imprisonment, and he ate bread continually before him all the days of his life (chai).
30And his allowance, a continual allowance, was given to him from the king, the matter of a day in its day, all the days of his life (chai).