 1 Zedekiah was 21 years old when he began to reign and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. 3 For it was because of the anger of the Lord in Jerusalem and Judah until He had cast them out from His presence that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 4 In the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it and built forts against it all around. 5 So the city was under attack until the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. 6 In the fourth month, in the ninth of the month, the famine was very grievous in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. 7 The city was broken up, and all the men of war fled and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden. The Chaldeans lay around the city all around. They went by the way of the plain. 8 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. All his army was scattered from him. 9 They took the king and carried him up to the king of Babylon, to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgments against him. 10 The king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. He also killed all the rulers of Judah in Riblah. 11 He blinded the eyes of Zedekiah, bound him in chains, carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison until the day of his death. 12 In the fifth month, in the tenth of the month, in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, chief of the executioners who served the king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem. 13 He burned the house of the Lord and the king's house. He burned all the houses of Jerusalem and all the houses of the great ones with fire. 14 All the army of the Chaldeans with the chief of the executioners broke down all of Jerusalem's walls all around. 15 Nebuzaradan the chief of the executioners exiled some of the poor of the people and the rest of the people who remained in the city and those who fell away, who fell to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude. 16 But Nebuzaradan, chief of the executioners, left some of the poor of the land for vinedressers and for farmers. 17 Also the Chaldeans broke the pillars of bronze that were in the house of the Lord, and the bases, and the bronze sea in the house of the Lord, and carried all the bronze of them to Babylon. 18 They also took away the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of bronze with which they served. 19 The chief of the executioners took away the basins, and the firepans, and the bowls, and the pots, and the lampstands, and the spoons, and the cups. What was gold, in gold. And what was silver, in silver. 20 the two pillars, one sea, and twelve bronze bulls that were under the bases, which King Solomon had made in the house of the Lord. The bronze of all these vessels was without weight. 21 The pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits. And a line of twelve cubits went around it, and the thickness of it was four fingers. It was hollow. 22 A capital of bronze was on it. And the height of one capital was five cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capitals all around, all of bronze. The second pillar also, and the pomegranates, were like these. 23 There were 96 pomegranates on a side. All the pomegranates on the network were 100 all around. 24 The chief of the executioners took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers. 25 He also took out of the city a eunuch who was in charge of the men of war. And seven men from those who were near the king's person, who were found in the city. And the chief scribe of the army, who mustered the people of the land. And sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the middle of the city. 26 Nebuzaradan the chief of the executioners took them and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah. 27 The king of Babylon struck them and slaughtered them in Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was exiled out of his own land. 28 These are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar exiled in the seventh year, 3,000 and 23 Jews. 29 In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, he exiled from Jerusalem 832 persons. 30 In the twenty third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan, chief of the executioners, exiled 745 persons of the Jews. All the persons were 4,600. 31 In the 37th year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the 25th of the month, King Evilmerodach of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of King Jehoiachin of Judah, and brought him out from prison, 32 and spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon. 33 He changed his prison garments, and he ate bread before him all the days of his life. 34 His allowance in continual allowance was given him from the king of Babylon, the matter of a day in its day, until the day of his death, all the days of his life.
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