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¹ It happened in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nevukhadnetztzar king of Bavel came, he and all his army, against Yerushalayim, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it round about. ² So the city was besieged to the eleventh year of king Tzidkiyahu. ³ On the ninth day of the [fourth] month the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. ⁴ Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war [fled] by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden (now the Kasdim were against the city round about); and [the king] went by the way of the `Aravah. ⁵ But the army of the Kasdim pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Yericho; and all his army was scattered from him. ⁶ Then they took the king, and carried him up to the king of Bavel to Rivlah; and they gave judgment on him. ⁷ They killed the sons of Tzidkiyahu before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Tzidkiyahu, and bound him in fetters, and carried him to Bavel.

⁸ Now in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of king Nevukhadnetztzar, king of Bavel, came Nevuzar'adan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Bavel, to Yerushalayim. ⁹ He burnt the house of the LORD, and the king's house; and all the houses of Yerushalayim, even every great house, burnt he with fire. ¹⁰ All the army of the Kasdim, who were [with] the captain of the guard, broke down the walls of Yerushalayim round about. ¹¹ The residue of the people who were left in the city, and those who fell away, who fell to the king of Bavel, and the residue of the multitude, did Nevuzar'adan the captain of the guard carry away captive. ¹² But the captain of the guard left of the poorest of the land to work the vineyards and fields. ¹³ The pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases and the brazen sea that were in the house of the LORD, did the Kasdim break in pieces, and carried the brass of them to Bavel. ¹⁴ The pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass with which they ministered, took they away. ¹⁵ The fire pans, and the basins, that which was of gold, in gold, and that which was of silver, in silver, the captain of the guard took away. ¹⁶ The two pillars, the one sea, and the bases, which Shlomo had made for the house of the LORD, the brass of all these vessels was without weight. ¹⁷ The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a capital of brass was on it; and the height of the capital was three cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capital round about, all of brass: and like to these had the second pillar with network. ¹⁸ The captain of the guard took Serayah the chief Kohen, and Tzefanyah the second Kohen, and the three keepers of the threshold: ¹⁹ and out of the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war; and five men of those who saw the king's face, who were found in the city; and the Sofer, the captain of the host, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the city. ²⁰ Nevuzar'adan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Bavel to Rivlah. ²¹ The king of Bavel struck them, and put them to death at Rivlah in the land of Hamat. So Yehudah was carried away captive out of his land.

²² As for the people who were left in the land of Yehudah, whom Nevukhadnetztzar king of Bavel had left, even over them he made Gedalyahu the son of Achikam, the son of Shafan, governor. ²³ Now when all the captains of the forces, they and their men, heard that the king of Bavel had made Gedalyahu governor, they came to Gedalyahu to Mitzpah, even Yishma'el the son of Netanyah, and Yochanan the son of Kareach, and Serayah the son of Tanchumet the Netofatite, and Ya`azanyah the son of the Ma`akhatite, they and their men. ²⁴ Gedalyahu swore to them and to their men, and said to them, Don't be afraid because of the servants of the Kasdim: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Bavel, and it shall be well with you. ²⁵ But it happened in the seventh month, that Yishma'el the son of Netanyah, the son of Elishama, of the royal seed came, and ten men with him, and struck Gedalyahu, so that he died, and the Yehudim and the Kasdim that were with him at Mitzpah. ²⁶ All the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces, arose, and came to Mitzrayim; for they were afraid of the Kasdim. ²⁷ It happened in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Yehoiakim king of Yehudah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evil-Merodakh king of Bavel, in the year that he began to reign, did lift up the head of Yehoiakim king of Yehudah out of prison; ²⁸ and he spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Bavel, ²⁹ and changed his prison garments. [Yehoiakim] ate bread before him continually all the days of his life: ³⁰ and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him of the king, every day a portion, all the days of his life.