1 Zedekiah was one and twentie yeere olde when he began to reigne, and he reigned eleuen yeeres in Ierusalem, and his mothers name was Hamutal, the daughter of Ieremiah of Libnah. 2 And he did euil in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that Iehoiakim had done. 3 Doubtlesse because the wrath of the Lord was against Ierusalem and Iudah, till he had cast them out from his presence, therefore Zedekiah rebelled against the King of Babel. 4 But in the ninth yeere of his reigne, in the tenth moneth the tenth day of the moneth came Nebuchad-nezzar King of Babel, he and all his hoste against Ierusalem, and pitched against it, and buylt fortes against it round about. 5 So the citie was besieged vnto the eleuenth yeere of the King Zedekiah. 6 Now in the fourth moneth, the ninth day of the moneth, the famine was sore in ye citie, so that there was no more bread for ye people of the land. 7 Then the citie was broken vp and all the men of warre fled, and went out of the citie by night, by the way of the gate betweene the two walles, which was by the kings garden: (now the Caldeans were by the citie round about) and they went by the way of the wildernes. 8 But the army of the Caldeans pursued after the king, and tooke Zedekiah in the desert of Iericho, and all his host was scattered from him. 9 Then they tooke the king and caryed him vp vnto the king of Babel to Riblah in the lande of Hamath, where he gaue iudgement vpon him. 10 And the king of Babel slewe the sonnes of Zedekiah, before his eyes he slew also al ye princes of Iudah in Riblah. 11 Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and the king of Babel bound him in chaines, and caried him to Babel, and put him in pryson till the day of his death. 12 Now in the fift moneth in the tenth day of the moneth (which was the nineteenth yere of ye King Nebuchad-nezzar King of Babel) came Nebuzar-adan chiefe steward which stoode before the king of Babel in Ierusalem, 13 And burnt the House of the Lord, and the Kings house, and all the houses of Ierusalem, and all the great houses burnt he with fire. 14 And al the armie of the Caldeans that were with the chiefe steward, brake downe all ye walles of Ierusalem round about. 15 Then Nebuzar-adan the chiefe steward caried away captiue certaine of the poore of the people, and the residue of the people that remayned in the citie, and those that were fled, and fallen to the king of Babel, with the rest of the multitude. 16 But Nebuzar-adan the chiefe steward left certaine of the poore of the lande, to dresse the vines, and to till the land. 17 Also the pillars of brasse that were in the House of the Lord, and the bases, and the brasen Sea, that was in the house of ye Lord, the Caldeans brake, and caried all the brasse of them to Babel. 18 The pots also and the besomes, and the instruments of musicke, and the basins, and the incense dishes, and all the vessels of brasse wherewith they ministred, tooke they away. 19 And the bowles, and the ashpannes, and the basins, and the pots, and the candlestickes, and the incense dishes, and the cuppes, and all that was of golde, and that was of siluer, tooke the chiefe steward away, 20 With the two pillars, one Sea, and twelue brasen bulles, that were vnder the bases, which King Salomon had made in ye house of ye Lord: the brasse of all these vessels was without weight. 21 And concerning the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteene cubites, and a threede of twelue cubites did compasse it, and the thicknesse thereof was foure fingers: it was holowe. 22 And a chapiter of brasse was vpon it, and the height of one chapiter was fiue cubites with networke, and pomegranates vpon the chapiters round about, all of brasse: the seconde pillar also, and the pomegranates were like vnto these. 23 And there were ninetie and sixe pomegranates on a side: and all the pomegranates vpon the net worke were an hundreth round about. 24 And the chiefe steward tooke Sheraiah the chiefe Priest, and Zephaniah the seconde Priest, and the three keepers of the doore. 25 Hee tooke also out of the citie an Eunuch, which had the ouersight of the men of warre, and seuen men that were in the Kings presence, which were founde in the citie, and Sopher captayne of the hoste who mustered the people of the lande, and threescore men of the people of the land, that were found in the middes of the citie. 26 Nebuzar-adan the chiefe stewarde tooke them, and brought them to the king of Babel to Riblah. 27 And the king of Babel smote them, and slewe them in Riblah, in the lande of Hamath: thus Iudah was caried away captiue out of his owne land. 28 This is the people, whome Nebuchad-nezzar caried away captiue, in the seuenth yeere, euen three thousande Iewes, and three and twentie. 29 In the eightenth yere of Nebuchad-nezzar he caried away captiue from Ierusalem eight hundreth thirtie and two persons. 30 In the three and twentieth yeere of Nebuchad-nezzar, Nebuzar-adan the chiefe stewarde caried away captiue of the Iewes seuen hundreth fourtie and fiue persons: all the persons were foure thousand and sixe hundreth. 31 And in the seuen and thirtieth yeere of the captiuitie of Iehoiachin King of Iudah, in the twelfth moneth, in the fiue and twentieth day of the moneth, Euil-merodach King of Babel, in the first yeere of his reigne, lifted vp the head of Iehoiachin King of Iudah, and brought him out of pryson, 32 And spake kindly vnto him, and set his throne aboue the throne of the Kings, that were with him in Babel, 33 And changed his pryson garmentes, and he did continually eate bread before him all the dayes of his life. 34 His porcion was a continuall portion giuen him of ye king of Babel, euery day a certaine, all the dayes of his life vntill he died.
The Fall of Jerusalem
(2 Kings 24.18—25.7)1 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of the Jeremiah who lived in the city of Libnah. 2 King Zedekiah sinned against the Lord, just as King Jehoiakim had done. 3 The Lord became so angry with the people of Jerusalem and Judah that he banished them from his sight.
Zedekiah rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia, 4 and so Nebuchadnezzar came with all his army and attacked Jerusalem on the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign. They set up camp outside the city, built siege walls around it, 5 and kept it under siege until Zedekiah's eleventh year. 6 On the ninth day of the fourth month of that same year, when the famine was so bad that the people had nothing left to eat, 7 the city walls were broken through. Although the Babylonians were surrounding the city, all the soldiers escaped during the night. They left by way of the royal garden, went through the gateway connecting the two walls, and fled in the direction of the Jordan Valley. 8 But the Babylonian army pursued King Zedekiah, captured him in the plains near Jericho, and all his soldiers deserted him. 9 Zedekiah was taken to King Nebuchadnezzar, who was in the city of Riblah in the territory of Hamath, and there Nebuchadnezzar passed sentence on him. 10 At Riblah he put Zedekiah's sons to death while Zedekiah was looking on and he also had the officials of Judah executed. 11 After that, he had Zedekiah's eyes put out and had him placed in chains and taken to Babylon. Zedekiah remained in prison in Babylon until the day he died.
The Destruction of the Temple
(2 Kings 25.8-17)12 On the tenth day of the fifth month of the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia, Nebuzaradan, adviser to the king and commander of his army, entered Jerusalem. 13 He burned down the Temple, the palace, and the houses of all the important people in Jerusalem; 14 and his soldiers tore down the city walls. 15 Then Nebuzaradan took away to Babylonia the people who were left in the city, the remaining skilled workers, and those who had deserted to the Babylonians. 16 But he left in Judah some of the poorest people, who owned no property, and he put them to work in the vineyards and fields.
17 The Babylonians broke in pieces the bronze columns and the carts that were in the Temple, together with the large bronze tank, and they took all the bronze to Babylon. 18 They also took away the shovels and the ash containers used in cleaning the altar, the tools used in tending the lamps, the bowls used for catching the blood from the sacrifices, the bowls used for burning incense, and all the other bronze articles used in the Temple service. 19 They took away everything that was made of gold or silver: the small bowls, the pans used for carrying live coals, the bowls for holding the blood from the sacrifices, the ash containers, the lampstands, the bowls used for incense, and the bowls used for pouring out wine offerings. 20 The bronze objects that King Solomon had made for the Temple—the two columns, the carts, the large tank, and the twelve bulls that supported it—were too heavy to weigh. 21-22 The two columns were identical: each one was 27 feet high and 18 feet around. They were hollow, and the metal was 3 inches thick. On top of each column was a bronze capital 7½ feet high, and all around it was a grillwork decorated with pomegranates, all of which was also made of bronze. 23 On the grillwork of each column there were a hundred pomegranates in all, and ninety-six of these were visible from the ground.
The People of Judah Are Taken to Babylonia
(2 Kings 25.18-212 27-30)24 In addition, Nebuzaradan, the commanding officer, took away as prisoners Seraiah the High Priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank, and the three other important Temple officials. 25 From the city he took the officer who had been in command of the troops, seven of the king's personal advisers who were still in the city, the commander's assistant, who was in charge of military records, and sixty other important men. 26 Nebuzaradan took them to the king of Babylonia, who was in the city of Riblah 27 in the territory of Hamath. There the king had them beaten and put to death.
So the people of Judah were carried away from their land into exile. 28 This is the record of the people that Nebuchadnezzar took away as prisoners: in his seventh year as king he carried away 3,023; 29 in his eighteenth year, 832 from Jerusalem; 30 and in his twenty-third year, 745—taken away by Nebuzaradan. In all, 4,600 people were taken away.
31 In the year that Evil-merodach became king of Babylonia, he showed kindness to King Jehoiachin of Judah by releasing him from prison. This happened on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year after Jehoiachin had been taken away as a prisoner. 32 Evil-merodach treated him kindly and gave him a position of greater honor than he gave the other kings who were exiles with him in Babylonia. 33 So Jehoiachin was permitted to change from his prison clothes and to dine at the king's table for the rest of his life. 34 Each day for as long as he lived, he was given a regular allowance for his needs.