1 And it happened in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, Nebuchadnezzar {nevukhadnetsar: Babylonian monarch} king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem; he camped against it and they built a siege wall {dayeq: siege rampart} all around it.
2 So the city {ir: fortified place} was in a state of siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah {Tsidqiyahu: Yahweh’s Righteousness}.
3 On the ninth day{tish‘ah: ordinal number} of the fourth month, the famine became severe in the city, and there was no bread{lechem: staple provision} for the people of the land.
4 And the city was breached, and all the men of war {anshei ha-milchamah: fighting men} fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls that was by the king’s garden. Though the Chaldeans {Kasdim: Babylonian soldiers} were surrounding the city, the king went by way of the Arabah.
5 The army of the Chaldeans {kasdim: imperial forces} pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and then all his army was scattered {nafotzu: broken ranks}.
6 And they seized {vayyitpesu: forced capture} the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah {Rivlatah: border fortress}, and there they pronounced judgment on him.
7 And they slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; and he blinded the eyes of Zedekiah, bound him with bronze shackles {banchushtayim: bronze restraints} and brought him to Babylon {bavel: captivity center}.
8 And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month—it was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard {rav-tabachim: commander of the royal guard}, servant {eved: trusted official} of the King of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
9 And he burned the house of the LORD {YHWH, Holy Dwelling}, the house of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great {gadol: prominent residence} house he burned with fire.
10 And the entire army of the Chaldeans under the chief of the guards {rav-tabakhim: chief executioner} broke down the walls {kho-mot: defensive barriers} of Jerusalem all around.
11 And the remainder of the people, the survivors {hanish'arim: city survivors} in the city, and those who had gone over to the king of Babylon, and the remainder of the multitude—Nebuzaradan, chief of the guard {rav-tabbakhim: imperial guard}, carried into exile.
12 But from the poorest of the land, the captain of the guard {rav-tabachim: chief officer} left behind vine-dressers and plowmen {yogvim: field workers}.
13 And the pillars of bronze that were in the house of the LORD {YHWH, Temple Sovereign}, and the stands, and the bronze sea that was in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans {kasdim: Babylonian conquerors} broke in pieces and carried their bronze to Babylon.
14 And the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the spoons, and all the bronze{nechoshet: copper alloy} vessels with which they ministered{yeshartu: cultic service}, they took.
15 And the censers {makhtot: sacred firepans} and the sprinkling bowls, those which were gold—gold, and those which were silver—silver, the chief of the guards {rabb-ṭabbāḥîm: commander over the king’s guard} took.
16 The two pillars, the one Sea {yam: ceremonial basin}, and the stands that Solomon made for the house of the LORD {YHWH, Temple Dedicator} had no weight reckoned for the bronze of all these vessels.
17 The height {qomat: measured vertical dimension} of the first pillar {amud: architectural column} was eighteen cubits, and a bronze capital sat upon it. The capital rose three cubits and featured a latticework and pomegranates encircling it, all of bronze. The second pillar displayed the identical arrangement.
18 And the commander of the guard {rav-tabbakhim: chief of executions} took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold {hasaf: temple gateway guards}.
19 And from the city he took one official {saris: court officer} who was appointed over the men of war, and five men from the king’s attendants {ro'ei penei: court insiders} who were found in the city, and the scribe, the chief of the army, who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men from the people of the land who were found in the city.
20 And Nebuzaradan {nevuzaradan: imperial official} the chief of the guard {rav-tabachim: execution overseer} took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
21 And the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah {rivlah: frontier city on the Orontes River} in the land of Hamath. So Judah {yehudah: southern Israelite kingdom} was exiled from their land.
22 And the remnant {hanish'ar: surviving population} in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left behind, he appointed {vayafked: entrusted authority} Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, over them.
23 And all the officers of the soldiers, they and the men, heard that the king of Babylon {bavel: imperial kingdom} had appointed Gedaliah, and they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah {hamitzpah: strategic watchtower}—Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite, they and their men.
24 And Gedaliah {Gedalyahu: appointed governor} swore to them and their men and said, “Do not be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans {kasdim: Babylonian invaders}. Settle in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well for you.”
25 And it happened in the seventh month that Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, from the seed of the royalty {melukhah: royal lineage} came with ten men. And they struck down Gedaliah {Gedalyahu: governor of Judah}, and he died, and also the Judeans and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.
26 And all the people, from the least to the greatest, and the officers {sarei: senior leaders} of the army arose and went to Egypt {Mitzrayim: land of refuge}, for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.
27 And it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day, that Evil-Merodakh king of Babylon in the year that he began to reign lifted up the head {rosh: idiom for restoration} of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of the prison {kele: confinement cell}.
28 And he spoke with him good things and set his throne {kis'o: royal dignity} above the throne of the kings {melakhim: captive rulers} who were with him in Babylon.
29 And Jehoiachin changed his garments of imprisonment{kil’o: symbol of captivity} and ate bread continually{tamid: uninterrupted provision} before him all the days of his life.
30 His allowance, a regular allotment, was given to him by the king {melek: sovereign ruler} according to the daily portion {devar-yom: appointed daily share}, every day of his life.