1Thus it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his forces came against Jerusalem and encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around. 2And the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 3By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. 4And the city was broken into, and all the men of war fled at night by way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden, even though the Chaldeans were encamped all around against the city. And the king went the way toward the plain. 5And the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and they overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him. 6So they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they pronounced judgment upon him. 7And they killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, put out the eyes of Zedekiah, bound him with bronze fetters, and brought him to Babylon. 8And in the fifth month, on the seventh of the month (which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9He burned the house of Jehovah and the king’s house; all the houses of Jerusalem, that is, all the houses of distinction, he burned with fire. 10And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down the walls of Jerusalem all around. 11And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive the rest of the people who remained in the city and the defectors who had fallen out to the king of Babylon, with the rest of the multitude. 12But the captain of the guard left some of the poor of the land as vinedressers and farmers. 13The bronze pillars that were in the house of Jehovah, and the carts and the bronze sea that were in the house of Jehovah, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried the bronze to Babylon. 14They also took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the spoons, and all the bronze utensils which were used in service. 15The firepans and the basins, the things of gold in gold and of silver in silver, the captain of the guard carried away. 16The two pillars, one Sea, and the carts, which Solomon had made for the house of Jehovah, the bronze of all these articles was without weight. 17The height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the capital on it was of bronze. The height of the capital was three cubits, and the network and pomegranates all around the capital were all of bronze. The second pillar was the same, with a network. 18And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers. 19He also took out of the city an official who had charge of the men of war, five men who were found in the city who looked after the king’s presence, the chief marshal of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city. 20So Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, took these and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 21And the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive from its land. 22And he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor over the people who remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left. 23And when all the commanders of the forces, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah; Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan the son of Careah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men. 24And Gedaliah swore before them and their men, and said to them, Do not be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you. 25But it happened in the seventh month that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal seed, came with ten men and struck Gedaliah, the Jews, as well as the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah, so that they died. 26And all the people, small and great, and the commanders of the forces, arose and went to Egypt; for they were afraid before the Chaldeans. 27And it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh of the month, that Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. 28He spoke kindly to him, and gave him a more prominent seat than those of the kings who were with him in Babylon. 29And Jehoiachin changed from his prison garments, and he ate bread continually before him all the days of his life. 30And a continual allowance was rationed to him by the king, the matter day by day, all the days of his life.