The Fall of Jerusalem Recounted

(Psalm 74:1-23; Psalm 79:1-13)

1Sedecias was one and twenty years old when he began to reign: and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and the name of his mother was Amital, the daughter of Jeremiah of Lobna. 2And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that Joakim had done. 3For the wrath of the Lord was against Jerusalem, and against Juda, till he cast them out from his presence: and Sedecias revolted from the king of Babylon. 4And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, the tenth day of the month, that Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and they besieged it, and built forts against it round about. 5And the city was besieged until the eleventh year of king Sedecias. 6And in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, a famine overpowered the city: and there was no food for the people of the land. 7And the city was broken up, and the men of war fled, and went out of the city in the night by the way of the gate that is between the two walls, and leadeth to the king's garden, (the Chaldeans besieging the city round about,) and they went by the way that leadeth to the wilderness. 8But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king: and they overtook Sedecias in the desert which is near Jericho: and all his companions were scattered from him. 9And when they had taken the king, they carried him to the king of Babylon to Reblatha, which is in the land of Emath: and he gave judgment upon him. 10And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Sedecias before his eyes: and he slew all the princes of Juda in Reblatha. 11And he put out the eyes of Sedecias, and bound him with fetters, and the king of Babylon brought him into Babylon, and he put him in prison till the day of his death.

The Temple and the City Burned

12And in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, the same is the nineteenth year of Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, came Nabuzardan the general of the army, who stood before the king of Babylon in Jerusalem. 13And he burnt the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great house he burnt with fire. 14And all the army of the Chaldeans that were with the general broke down all the wall of Jerusalem round about. 15But Nabuzardan the general carried away captives some of the poor people, and of the rest of the common sort who remained in the city, and of the fugitives that were fled over to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude. 16But of the poor of the land, Nabuzardan the general left some for vinedressers, and for husbandmen.

17The Chaldeans also broke in pieces the brazen pillars that were in the house of the Lord, and the bases, and the sea of brass that was in the house of the Lord: and they carried all the brass of them to Babylon. 18And they took the caldrons, and the fleshhooks, and the psalteries, and the bowls, and the little mortars, and all the brazen vessels that had been used in the ministry: and 19The general took away the pitchers, and the censers, and the pots, and the basins, and the candlesticks, and the mortars, and the cups: as many as were of gold, in gold: and as many as were of silver, in silver: 20And the two pillars, and one sea, and twelve oxen of brass that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the Lord: there was no weight of the brass of all these vessels. 21And concerning the pillars, one pillar was eighteen cubits high: and a cord of twelve cubits compassed it about: but the thickness thereof was four fingers, and it was hollow within. 22And chapiters of brass were upon both: and the height of one chapiter was five cubits: and network, and pomegranates were upon the chapiters round about, all of brass. The same of the second pillar, and the pomegranates. 23And there were ninety-six pomegranates hanging down: and the pomegranates being a hundred in all, were compassed with network.

Captives Carried to Babylon

24And the general took Saraias the chief priest, and Sophonias the second priest, and the three keepers of the entry. 25He also took out of the city one eunuch that was chief over the men of war: and seven men of them that were near the king's person, that were found in the city: and a scribe, an officer of the army who exercised the young soldiers: and threescore men of the people of the land, that were found in the midst of the city. 26And Nabuzardan the general took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon, to Reblatha. 27And the king of Babylon struck them, and put them to death in Reblatha, in the land of Emath: and Juda was carried away captive out of his land.

28This is the people whom Nabuchodonosor carried away captive: in the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Jews. 29In the eighteenth year of Nabuchodonosor, eight hundred and thirty-two souls from Jerusalem. 30In the three and twentieth year of Nabuchodonosor, Nabuzardan the general carried away of the Jews seven hundred and forty-five souls. So all the souls were four thousand six hundred.

Evil-Merodach Releases Jehoiachin

31And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Joachin king of Juda, in the twelfth month, the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Joachin king of Juda, and brought him forth out of prison. 32And he spoke kindly to him, and he set his throne above the thrones of the kings that were with him in Babylon. 33And he changed his prison garments, and he ate bread before him always all the days of his life. 34And for his diet a continual provision was allowed him by the king of Babylon, every day a portion, until the day of his death, all the days of his life.