Zedekiah, King of Judah^(A)

¹⁸ Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king. He reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. ¹⁹ He did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. ²⁰ Because of the anger of the Lord this happened in Jerusalem and Judah until He threw them out from His presence. But Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

The Fall and Exile of Judah^(A)

25 In the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and set up camp near it. They built siege mounds against it all around. ² The city came under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. ³ On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was severe in the city, and there was no food for the people of the land. ⁴ The city was breached, and all the fighting men fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which is by the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. They went along the way of the Arabah. ⁵ Then the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his army deserted him. ⁶ So they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they passed sentence upon him. ⁷ They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah. They bound him with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon.

⁸ In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month (that was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan, the captain of the bodyguard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. ⁹ He burned the house of the Lord, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every great house he burned with fire. ¹⁰ All the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard tore down the walls of Jerusalem all around. ¹¹ The rest of the people who remained in the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the crowd Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard took into exile. ¹² But the captain of the bodyguard left some of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and farmers.

¹³ The bronze pillars that were in the house of the Lord, the stands, and the bronze sea that were in the house of the Lord the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried their bronze to Babylon. ¹⁴ The pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the incense bowls, and all the bronze implements which were used in service they took away. ¹⁵ The fire pans and sprinkling basins that were fine gold and fine silver the captain of the bodyguard took.

¹⁶ The two pillars, the one sea, and the stands, which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord—the bronze of all these implements was beyond weight. ¹⁷ The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits,^[a] and a bronze capital was on it. The height of the capital was three cubits.^[b] Latticework and pomegranates, all of bronze, were on the capital all around. The second pillar with its latticework was like it.

¹⁸ The captain of the bodyguard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold. ¹⁹ From the city he took a eunuch who was an officer over the fighting men, five men of the king’s council who were found in the city, the chief scribe 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 Nebuzaradan captain of the bodyguard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ²¹ Then the king of Babylon struck them down and killed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath.

Thus he exiled Judah from their land.

Zedekiah, King of Judah^(A)

¹¹ Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he was king in Jerusalem for eleven years. ¹² He did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the Lord. ¹³ He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by an oath by God. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord God of Israel. ¹⁴ Even the officials over the priests and the people increased in their unfaithfulness in all the detestable practices of the nations, and they defiled the house of the Lord which He had consecrated in Jerusalem.

The Fall of Jerusalem^(B)

¹⁵ The Lord God of their fathers sent warnings to them over and over again by His messengers because He had compassion on His people and His dwelling place. ¹⁶ But they continued to jest regarding the messengers of God, despising His word and making fun of His prophets until the wrath of the Lord came up against His people, until there was no remedy. ¹⁷ So He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans from Babylon, who killed their young men with the sword at the house of their sanctuary. He did not spare a young man or virgin, old or aged. God gave all of them into his hand. ¹⁸ Even all the vessels of the house of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, the king, and his officials, all of this was taken to Babylon. ¹⁹ So they burned down the house of God, tore down the wall of Jerusalem, burned down all the palaces with fire, and destroyed all the precious items.

²⁰ Then he carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who survived the sword, and they were slaves to him and his sons until the kingdom of Persia ruled,

The Fall of Jerusalem^(A)

39 In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and besieged it. ² In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city wall was broken up. ³ All the officials of the king of Babylon entered and sat in the Middle Gate: Nergal-Sharezer, Samgar-Nebo, Sarsekim the Rabsaris^[a] Nergal-Sharezer the Rabmag,^[b] and all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon. ⁴ When Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them and all the men of war, then they fled and went out of the city by night, by way of the king’s garden, by the gate between the two walls. And he went out the way of the Arabah.

⁵ But the Chaldeans’ army pursued after them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he passed sentence on him. ⁶ Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes. Moreover, the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah. ⁷ He also put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him with chains to carry him to Babylon.

⁸ The Chaldeans burned the king’s house and the houses of the people with fire and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. ⁹ Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive into Babylon the remnant of the people who remained in the city, and those who fell away, who fell to him, with the rest of the people who remained. ¹⁰ But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left behind in the land of Judah the poor people who had nothing, and gave them vineyards and fields at that time.