² Then, in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, on the ninth day of the fourth month, a breach was made in the wall of the city. ³ Thereupon, all of the officials of the king of Babylon came forward and took their seats at the middle gate: Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim, who was a high dignitary, another Nergal-sharezer, who was the chief astrologer, and all of the other dignitaries in the king’s service.

⁴ When King Zedekiah of Judah beheld them, he and all of his soldiers fled, departing from the city during the night by way of the king’s garden through the gate between the two walls, and they set off in the direction of the Arabah.