1 So King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and all his army came to fight against Jerusalem. This happened on the 10th day of the tenth month of Zedekiah’s ninth year as king. Nebuchadnezzar put his army around Jerusalem to stop people from going in and out of the city. Then he built a wall of dirt around the city.
2 His army stayed around Jerusalem until Zedekiah’s eleventh year as king of Judah.
3 The famine was getting worse and worse in the city. By the 9th day of the fourth month, there was no more food for the common people in the city.
4 Nebuchadnezzar’s army finally broke through the city wall. That night King Zedekiah and all his soldiers ran away. They used the secret gate that went through the double walls. It was by the king’s garden. The enemy soldiers were all around the city, but Zedekiah and his men escaped on the road to the desert.
5 The Babylonian army chased King Zedekiah and caught him near Jericho. All of Zedekiah’s soldiers left him and ran away.
6 The Babylonians took King Zedekiah to the king of Babylon at Riblah. The Babylonians decided to punish Zedekiah.
7 They killed Zedekiah’s sons in front of him. Then they put out Zedekiah’s eyes. They put chains on him and took him to Babylon.
Jerusalem Is Destroyed
8 Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem on the 7th day of the fifth month of his nineteenth year as king of Babylon. The captain of Nebuchadnezzar’s best soldiers was Nebuzaradan.
9 Nebuzaradan burned the Lord’s Temple, the king’s palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem. He destroyed even the largest houses.
10 Then the Babylonian army that was with Nebuzaradan pulled down the walls around Jerusalem. 11 Nebuzaradan captured all the people who were still left in the city. He took all the people as prisoners, even those who had tried to surrender.
12 He let only the poorest of the common people stay there. He let them stay so that they could take care of the grapes and other crops.
13 The Babylonian soldiers broke into pieces all the bronze things in the Lord’s Temple. They broke the bronze columns, the bronze carts, and the large bronze tank[a] that were in the Lord’s Temple. Then they took all of that bronze to Babylon.
14 The Babylonians also took the pots, the shovels, the tools for trimming the lamps, the spoons, and all the bronze dishes that were used in the Temple.
15 Nebuzaradan took all the firepans and bowls. He took all the things made of gold for the gold. And he took everything made of silver for the silver.
16-17 So Nebuzaradan took the large bronze tank and the 2 bronze columns. (Each column was about 31 feet[b] tall. The capitals on the columns were over 5 feet[c] tall. They were made from bronze and had a design like a net and pomegranates. Both columns had the same kind of design.) He also took the carts that Solomon made for the Lord’s Temple. The bronze from these things was too heavy to be weighed.
The People of Judah Taken as Prisoners
18 From the Temple, Nebuzaradan took Seraiah the high priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three men who guarded the entrance.
19 From the city Nebuzaradan took one official who was in charge of the army and five of the king’s advisors[d] who were still in the city. He took one secretary of the commander of the army who was in charge of counting the common people and choosing some of them to be soldiers and 60 people who just happened to be in the city.
20-21 Then Nebuzaradan took all these people to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the area of Hamath. The king of Babylon killed them there at Riblah. And the people of Judah were led away as prisoners from their land.