| Chapter
25 |
| 1 | And it
came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth
day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and all his
host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it; and they built forts against
it round about. |
| 2 | And the
city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. |
| 3 | And on the ninth day of the fourth month
the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the
land. |
| 4 | And the city was
broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between
two walls, which is by the king's garden: (now the Chaldees were against the
city round about:) and the king went the way toward the plain. |
| 5 | And the army of the Chaldees pursued
after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all his army
were scattered from him. |
| 6 |
So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah;
and they gave judgment upon him. |
| 7
| And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the
eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to
Babylon. |
| 8 | And in the
fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of
king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a
servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem: |
|
9 | And he burnt the house of the LORD, and the king's
house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man's house burnt he
with fire. |
| 10 | And all
the army of the Chaldees, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down
the walls of Jerusalem round about. |
|
11 | Now the rest of the people that were left in the city, and the
fugitives that fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the
multitude, did Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carry away. |
| 12 | But the captain of the guard left
of the door of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen. |
| 13 | And the pillars of brass that
were in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brazen sea that was in
the house of the LORD, did the Chaldees break in pieces, and carried the brass
of them to Babylon. |
| 14 |
And the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the
vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away. |
| 15 | And the firepans, and the bowls, and
such things as were of gold, in gold, and of silver, in silver, the captain of
the guard took away. |
| 16 |
The two pillars, one sea, and the bases which Solomon had made for the house of
the LORD; the brass of all these vessels was without weight. |
| 17 | The height of the one pillar was
eighteen cubits, and the chapiter upon it was brass: and the height of the
chapiter three cubits; and the wreathed work, and pomegranates upon the
chapiter round about, all of brass: and like unto these had the second pillar
with wreathed work. |
| 18 |
And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the
second priest, and the three keepers of the door: |
|
19 | And out of the city he took an officer that was
set over the men of war, and five men of them that were in the king's presence,
which were found in the city, and the principal scribe of the host, which
mustered the people of the land, and threescore men of the people of the land
that were found in the city: |
| 20
| And Nebuzaradan captain of the guard took these, and brought them to
the king of Babylon to Riblah: |
| 21
| And the king of Babylon smote them, and slew them at Riblah in the
land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away out of their land. |
| 22 | And as for the people that remained in
the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them
he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ruler. |
| 23 | And when all the captains of the
armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah
governor, there came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah,
and Johanan the son of Careah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the
Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men. |
| 24 | And Gedaliah sware to
them, and to their men, and said unto them, Fear not to be the servants of the
Chaldees: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon; and it shall be
well with you. |
| 25 | But it
came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son
of Elishama, of the seed royal, came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah,
that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him at Mizpah. |
| 26 | And all the people, both
small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose, and came to Egypt: for
they were afraid of the Chaldees. |
|
27 | And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the
captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and
twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon in the year that
he began to reign did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of
prison; |
| 28 | And he spake
kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with
him in Babylon; |
| 29 | And
changed his prison garments: and he did eat bread continually before him all
the days of his life. |
| 30 |
And his allowance was a continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate
for every day, all the days of his life. |
