2 Kings 25:13-30

Now  the Chaldeans broke into pieces the bronze pillars  of the Lord’s temple, the water carts, and the bronze basin,  , which were in the Lord’s temple, and carried the bronze to Babylon.  They also took the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes, and all the bronze articles used in the priests’ service.  The captain of the guards took away the firepans and sprinkling basins — whatever was gold or silver.  As for the two pillars, the one basin, and the water carts that Solomon had made for the Lord’s temple, the weight of the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure.  One pillar was twenty-seven feet  tall and had a bronze capital on top of it. The capital, encircled by a grating and pomegranates of bronze, stood five feet  high. The second pillar was the same, with its own grating.  The captain of the guards  also took away Seraiah  the chief priest, Zephaniah  the priest of the second rank, and the three doorkeepers. From the city he took a court official  who had been appointed over the warriors; five trusted royal aides  , found in the city; the secretary of the commander of the army, who enlisted the people of the land for military duty; and sixty men from the common people  who were found within the city. Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.  The king of Babylon put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah went into exile from its land.  King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon appointed Gedaliah  son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, over the rest of the people he left in the land of Judah.  When all the commanders of the armies — they and their men — heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah.  The commanders included Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite — they and their men.  Gedaliah swore an oath to them and their men, assuring them, “Don’t be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well for you.”  In the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal family, came with ten men and struck down Gedaliah, and he died. Also, they killed the Judeans and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.  Then all the people, from the youngest to the oldest, and the commanders of the army, left and went to Egypt, for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.  On  the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Judah’s King Jehoiachin, in the year Evil-merodach became king of Babylon, he pardoned King Jehoiachin  of Judah and released him  from prison.  He spoke kindly  to him and set his throne over the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon.  So Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes, and he dined regularly in the presence of the king of Babylon for the rest of his life.  As for his allowance, a regular allowance  was given to him by the king, a portion for each day, for the rest of his life.