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2 Kings

Siege and Fall of Jerusalem; Destruction and Exile

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Chapter 24
20 For the anger of the LORD was against Jerusalem and Judah until he cast them from his presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babel.
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Chapter 25
1 And it was in the ninth year of his kingship, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel—he and all his power—came upon Jerusalem, and he encamped upon it, and they built a siege-wall upon it all around. 2 And the city came under siege until the twelfth year of King Zedekiah. 3 On the ninth of the month the famine strengthened in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land. 4 The city was breached, and all the men of war went out by night by way of the gate between the two walls, which were above the king's garden. The Chaldeans surrounded the city all around, and the king went the way of the Arabah. 5 The Chaldean force pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army scattered from him. 6 They seized the king and brought him to the king of Babel at Riblah, and they passed judgment on him. 7 And they slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, they blinded the eyes of Zedekiah, they bound him in bronze fetters, and they brought him to Babel. 8 In the fifth month, on the seventh of the month—this is the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babel—Nebuzaradan, chief of the slaughterers and servant of the king of Babel, came to Jerusalem. 9 And he burned the house of the LORD and the house of the king and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great house he burned with fire. 10 And they broke down the wall of Jerusalem all around—the army of the Chaldeans, who were the chief executioners. 11 And the remainder of the people remaining in the city, and those who fell to the king of Babel, and the remainder of the multitude, Nebuzaradan chief of the executioners exiled. 12 And from the poor of the land he left a remnant for the vineyards and for the winepresses—the chief butchers. 13 The bronze pillars that were in the house of the LORD, the stands, and the bronze sea that was in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and they carried their bronze to Babylon. 14 They took the pots, the shovels, the pans, the bowls, and all the bronze vessels with which they served. 15 And the censers and the bowls—that were gold in gold and silver in silver—the chief of the slaughterers took. 16 The two pillars; the one sea; and the lavers that Solomon made for the house of the LORD—there was no weight for the bronze of all these vessels. 17 Eighteen cubits was the height of the one pillar, and a capital of bronze was on it, and the height of the capital was three cubits, with latticework and pomegranates on the capital all around, all bronze. And the second pillar was like these on the latticework. 18 And the chief of the butlers took Seraiah the chief priest and Zephaniah the second priest and the three keepers of the threshold. 19 And from the city he took one eunuch who was appointed over the men of warfare, and five men from those who saw the face of the king who were found in the city, and the scribe, officer of the army, who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men from the people of the land who were found in the city. 20 And Nebuzaradan, the chief of the executioners, took them and brought them to the king of Babel at Riblah. 21 The king of Babel struck them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he exiled Judah from its land. 22 And as for the people remaining in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel had left, he appointed over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan. 23 When all the chiefs of the forces and the men heard that the king of Babel had appointed Gedaliah, they came to him at Mizpah—Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite, they and their men. 24 Gedaliah swore to them and their men and said to them, "Do not fear the servants of the Kasdim. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babel, and it will be good for you." 25 In the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah son of Elishama, of the royal seed, came with ten men, and they struck Gedaliah so that he died, along with the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah. 26 All the people, from small to great, and the chiefs of the forces arose, and they came to Egypt, for they feared the Chaldeans.