The Fall of Jerusalem Recounted
(Psalm 74:1-23; Psalm 79:1-13)
1Zedekiah [was] one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name [was] Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
2And he did [that which was] evil in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.
3For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
4And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth [day] of the month, [that] Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts against it round about.
5So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.
6And in the fourth month, in the ninth [day] of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.
7Then the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which [was] by the king's garden; (now the Chaldeans [were] by the city round about: ) and they went by the way of the plain.
8But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.
9Then they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; where he gave judgment upon him.
10And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah.
11Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.
The Temple and the City Burned
12Now in the fifth month, in the tenth [day] of the month, which [was] the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, [which] served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem,
13And burned the house of the LORD, and the king's house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great [men], burned he with fire:
14And all the army of the Chaldeans, that [were] with the captain of the guard, brake down all the walls of Jerusalem round about.
15Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive [certain] of the poor of the people, and the residue of the people that remained in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.
16But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left [certain] of the poor of the land for vinedressers and for husbandmen.
17Also the pillars of brass that [were] in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brasen sea that [was] in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans brake, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon.
18The caldrons also, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away.
19And the basons, and the firepans, and the bowls, and the caldrons, and the candlesticks, and the spoons, and the cups; [that] which [was] of gold [in] gold, and [that] which [was] of silver [in] silver, took the captain of the guard away.
20The two pillars, one sea, and twelve brasen bulls that [were] under the bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the LORD: the brass of all these vessels was without weight.
21And [concerning] the pillars, the height of one pillar [was] eighteen cubits; and a fillet of twelve cubits did compass it; and the thickness thereof [was] four fingers: [it was] hollow.
22And a chapiter of brass [was] upon it; and the height of one chapiter [was] five cubits, with network and pomegranates upon the chapiters round about, all [of] brass. The second pillar also and the pomegranates [were] like unto these.
23And there were ninety and six pomegranates on a side; [and] all the pomegranates upon the network [were] an hundred round about.
Captives Carried to Babylon
24And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the door:
25He took also out of the city an eunuch, which had the charge of the men of war; and seven men of them that were near the king's person, which were found in the city; and the principal scribe of the host, who mustered the people of the land; and threescore men of the people of the land, that were found in the midst of the city.
26So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah.
27And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death in Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive out of his own land.
28This [is] the people whom Nebuchadrezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year three thousand Jews and three and twenty:
29In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty and two persons:
30In the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadrezzar Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty and five persons: all the persons [were] four thousand and six hundred.
Evil-Merodach Releases Jehoiachin
31And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and twentieth [day] of the month, [that] Evilmerodach king of Babylon in the [first] year of his reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison,
32And spake kindly unto him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that [were] with him in Babylon,
33And changed his prison garments: and he did continually eat bread before him all the days of his life.
34And [for] his diet, there was a continual diet given him of the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.
