²² Behold, I am going to give a command,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will bring them back to this city, and they will fight against it and ^(A)take it and burn it with fire; and I will make the cities of Judah a ^(B)desolation ^(C)without inhabitant.’”

²³ They are also going to bring out all your wives and your ^(A)sons to the Chaldeans, and ^(B)you yourself will not escape from their hand, but will be seized by the hand of the king of Babylon, and ^(C)this city will be burned with fire.’”

² in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the city wall was ^(A)breached. ³ Then all the ^(B)officials of the king of Babylon came in and sat down at the ^(C)Middle Gate: Nergal-sar-ezer, Samgar-nebu, Sar-sekim the ^[a]Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the ^[b]Rab-mag, and all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon. ⁴ And when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, they ^(D)fled and left the city at night by way of the king’s garden through the gate ^(E)between the two walls; and he went out toward the ^[c]Arabah. ⁵ But the army of the ^(F)Chaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the ^(G)plains of Jericho; and they took him and brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at ^(H)Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he ^[d]passed sentence on him. ⁶ Then the ^(I)king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah ^(J)before his eyes at Riblah; the king of Babylon also slaughtered all the ^(K)nobles of Judah. ⁷ He then ^(L)blinded Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him in ^(M)shackles of bronze to bring him to ^(N)Babylon. ⁸ The Chaldeans also ^(O)burned the king’s palace and the houses of the people with fire, and they ^(P)tore down the walls of Jerusalem.