2 Kings 25
25
Nebuchadnezzar’s Siege of Jerusalem
1In the ninth year # Jr 32:1 of Zedekiah’s reign, # Jr 39:1-7; 52:4-11 on the tenth day of the tenth month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem with his entire army. # Jr 21:2; 34:1-2; Ezk 24:2 They laid siege to the city and built a siege wall against it all around. # Ezk 21:22 2The city was under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year.
3By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that the people of the land had no food. # 2Kg 6:24-25; Lm 4:9-10 4Then the city was broken into, # Jr 39:2 and all the warriors fled # Ezk 33:21 by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, # Neh 3:15 even though the Chaldeans surrounded the city. As the king made his way along the route to the Arabah, # Dt 2:8 5the Chaldean army pursued him and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. Zedekiah’s entire army was scattered from him. # Lv 26:36; Ezk 12:14; 17:21 6The Chaldeans seized the king # Jr 34:21-22 and brought him up to the king of Babylon # Jr 32:4 at Riblah, # Nm 34:11; 2Kg 23:33; Jr 52:9 and they passed sentence on him. 7They slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes. Finally, the king of Babylon blinded Zedekiah, bound him in bronze chains, and took him to Babylon. # Jr 39:6-7; Ezk 12:13
Jerusalem Destroyed
8On # Jr 39:8-10; 52:12-16 the seventh day of the fifth month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, a servant of the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem. # 2Kg 24:12; Jr 39:9; 52:12 9He burned the Lord’s temple, # 1Kg 9:8; 2Ch 36:19 the king’s palace, # Jr 39:8; Am 2:5 and all the houses of Jerusalem; he burned down # Jr 17:27 all the great houses. 10The whole Chaldean army with the commander of the guards tore down the walls # 2Kg 24:13; Neh 1:3; Jr 50:15 surrounding Jerusalem. 11Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, deported the rest of the people who were left in the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the population. # 2Ch 36:20; Jr 5:19; 39:1-9 12But the commander of the guards left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and farmers. # 2Kg 24:14; Jr 39:10; 40:7
13Now # Jr 52:17-27 the Chaldeans broke into pieces the bronze pillars # 2Kg 20:17; 2Ch 36:18; Jr 52:17 of the Lord’s temple, the water carts, and the bronze reservoir, # 1Kg 7:23; 2Ch 4:2-4 which were in the Lord’s temple, and carried the bronze to Babylon. # Jr 27:19-22 14They also took the pots, the shovels, the wick trimmers, the dishes, and all the bronze articles used in temple service. # Ex 27:3; 1Kg 7:47-50; 2Ch 4:16 15The commander of the guards took away the firepans and the sprinkling basins — whatever was gold or silver. # 2Kg 24:13; Jr 15:13; 20:5
16As for the two pillars, the one reservoir, 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. # 1Kg 7:47 17One pillar was 27 feet # Lit 18 cubits tall and had a bronze capital on top of it. The capital, encircled by a grating and pomegranates of bronze, stood five feet # Lit three cubits high. The second pillar was the same, with its own grating. # 1Kg 7:15-22
18The commander of the guards # Jr 39:9-13; 52:12-16,24 also took away Seraiah # 1Ch 6:14; Ezr 7:1 the chief priest, Zephaniah # Jr 21:1; 29:25,29 the priest of the second rank, and the three doorkeepers. 19He took a court official who had been appointed over the warriors from the city; five trusted royal aides # Lit five men who look on the king’s face # Jr 52:25 found in the city; the secretary of the commander of the army, who enlisted the people of the land for military duty; and 60 men from the common people # Lit the people of the land who were found within the city. 20Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. # 2Kg 23:33 21The king of Babylon put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah went into exile from its land. # Dt 28:63-64; 2Kg 23:27
Gedaliah Made Governor
22Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah # Jr 39:14; 40:7-9 son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, over the rest of the people he left in the land of Judah. # Is 1:9; Jr 40:5 23When 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. # Jos 18:26 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. # Jr 40:7-8 24Gedaliah 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.” # Jr 40:9
25In the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal family, came with 10 men and struck down Gedaliah, and he died. Also, they killed the Judeans and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah. # Jr 41:1-2 26Then 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. # Is 30:2; Jr 43:4-7
Jehoiachin Pardoned
27On # Jr 52:31-34 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 # 2Kg 24:12 of Judah and released him from prison. # Gn 40:13,20 28He spoke kindly # 1Kg 8:50 to him and set his throne over the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon. # Ezr 5:5; 7:6,28 29So Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes, and he dined regularly in the presence of the king of Babylon for the rest of his life. # 2Sm 9:7 30As for his allowance, a regular allowance # Gn 43:34; Neh 12:47 was given to him by the king, a portion for each day, for the rest of his life.
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2 Kings 25
25
1In the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and his whole army advanced against Jerusalem, encamped around it, and built siege walls on every side. 2The siege of the city continued until the eleventh year of Zedekiah. 3On the ninth day of the month,#Ninth day of the month: the text does not say which month, but Jer 39:2 and 52:6 set the breaching of the city walls in the fourth month; in later times that was the date of a fast commemorating the event (cf. Zec 8:19). People of the land: the influential citizens (see note on 11:14); even they, whose resources went beyond those of the ordinary people, were starving. when famine had gripped the city, and the people of the land had no more food, 4the city walls were breached. That night, all the soldiers came to the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden (the Chaldeans had the city surrounded), while the king went toward the Arabah.#The Hebrew text of this verse is missing some words. The present translation is based on a likely reconstruction. 5But the Chaldean army pursued the king and overtook him in the desert near Jericho, abandoned by his whole army. 6The king was therefore arrested and brought to Riblah to the king of Babylon, who pronounced sentence on him. 7They slew Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes; then they put out his eyes, bound him with fetters, and brought him to Babylon.
8On the seventh day of the fifth month (this was in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard, came to Jerusalem as the agent of the king of Babylon. 9He burned the house of the Lord, the house of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem (every noble house); he destroyed them by fire.#Ps 74:2–7. 10The Chaldean troops who were with the captain of the guard tore down the walls that surrounded Jerusalem, 11and Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, led into exile the last of the army remaining in the city, and those who had deserted#Those who had deserted: perhaps on the advice of Jeremiah; cf. Jer 38:2–3. to the king of Babylon, and the last of the commoners. 12But some of the country’s poor the captain of the guard left behind as vinedressers and farmers.
13The bronze columns that belonged to the house of the Lord, and the stands and the bronze sea in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke into pieces; they carried away the bronze to Babylon.#2 Kgs 16:17; 1 Kgs 7:15–39; Jer 27:19–23. 14They took also the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the cups and all the bronze articles used for service.#1 Kgs 7:40–45. 15The fire pans and the bowls that were of solid gold or silver the captain of the guard also carried off.#1 Kgs 7:50. 16The two columns, the one bronze sea, and the stands, which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord—the weight in bronze of all these articles was never calculated.#1 Kgs 7:47. 17Each of the columns was eighteen cubits high; a bronze capital three cubits high surmounted each column, and a netting with pomegranates encircled the capital, all of bronze; and they were duplicated on the other column, on the netting.#1 Kgs 7:15–20; Jer 52:21–23.
18The captain of the guard also took Seraiah, the chief priest, Zephaniah, an assistant priest, and the three doorkeepers. 19And from the city he took one officer who was a commander of soldiers, five courtiers in the personal service of the king who were still in the city, the scribe in charge of the army who mustered the people of the land,#People of the land: see note on 11:14. and sixty of the people of the land still remaining in the city. 20The captain of the guard, Nebuzaradan, arrested these and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and 21the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death in Riblah, in the land of Hamath. And thus Judah went into exile from their native soil.
Governorship of Gedaliah. 22#Jer 40:7–41:18. As for the people whom he had allowed to remain in the land of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, appointed Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, over them. 23Hearing that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah over them, all the army commanders and the troops came to him at Mizpah: Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, Johanan, son of Kareah, Seraiah, son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah, son of the Maakite, each with his troops. 24Gedaliah gave the commanders and their troops his oath. He said to them, “Do not be afraid of the Chaldean officials. Remain in the country and serve the king of Babylon, so that all will be well with you.”
25But in the seventh month Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of royal descent, came with ten others, attacked Gedaliah and killed him, along with the Judahites and Chaldeans who were in Mizpah with him. 26Then all the people, great and small, left with the army commanders and went to Egypt for fear of the Chaldeans.
Release of Jehoiachin. 27In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month, Evil-merodach, king of Babylon, in the inaugural year of his own reign, raised up Jehoiachin, king of Judah, from prison. 28He spoke kindly to him and gave him a throne higher than that of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. 29Jehoiachin took off his prison garb; he ate regularly in the king’s presence as long as he lived; 30and for his allowance the king granted him a regular allowance, in fixed daily amounts, for as long as he lived.
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