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¹ AND in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army against Jerusalem, and pitched against it and built forts against it round about.² And the city was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.³ And in the eleventh year of King Zedekiah, on the ninth day of the fifth month, the famine was severe in the city and there was no bread for the people of the land.⁴ And the city was breached, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which is by the kings garden (now the Chaldeans were round about the city), and they went by the way of the plain.⁵ And the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.⁶ So they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Diblath; and he pronounced judgment against him.⁷ And the king of Babylon slew the sons of King Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters and carried him to Babylon.

⁸ In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, to Jerusalem;⁹ And he burned the house of the LORD and the kings house; and all the houses of Jerusalem and all the houses of the princes he burned with fire.¹⁰ And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the commander of the guard broke down the walls of Jerusalem round about.¹¹ Now the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had gone over to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude, Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, carried away to Babylon.¹² But Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, left some of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen.¹³ And the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD and the bases and the bronze sea that was in the house of the LORD the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and took all the brass and carried it to Babylon.¹⁴ And the pots and the cauldrons and the large hanging pots and the snuffers and the spoons and all the vessels of brass with which they ministered, they took away.¹⁵ And the censers and the bowls, which were of gold and silver, and the cups, the commander of the guard took away.¹⁶ The two pillars, one sea, and the bases which King Solomon had made for the house of the LORD; the weight of the brass of all these vessels was beyond calculation.¹⁷ The height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the capital upon it was of brass; and the height of the capital was three cubits; and the carved ornaments and pomegranates upon the capital round about, all of brass; and the second pillar was likewise with carved ornaments, all of brass.¹⁸ And the commander of the guard took Sheriah the chief priest and Zephaniah the second priest and the three keepers of the door;¹⁹ And out of the city he took an officer who was in charge of the men of war and five men of those who were in the kings presence, who were found in the city, and the scribe and the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were still in the city;²⁰ And Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, took these, and brought them to the king of Babylon at Diblath;²¹ And the king of Babylon smote them, and slew them at Diblath in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive out of their land.

²² And as for 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, ruler.²³ And when all the commanders of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah ruler, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and Johanan the son of Korah and Sheriah the son of Tanhumeth and Tobia and Jaazaniah the son of Maachat, they and their men.²⁴ And Gedaliah swore to them and to their men, and said to them, Fear not the Chaldeans; dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon; and it shall be well with you.²⁵ But in the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Ishmael of the royal seed came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah, that he died, and also the Jews and the Chaldeans that were with him at Mizpeh.²⁶ And all the people of the land, both small and great, and all the commanders of the armies, arose and went to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.²⁷ And in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Aol-merodach king of Babylon in the first year that he began to reign honored Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of the prison;²⁸ And he spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon;²⁹ And changed his prison garments; and he did eat bread continually before him all the days of his life.³⁰ And his allowance was a continual allowance given him by the king of Babylon, a portion for every day, all the days of his life.