New American Standard Bible | ►► |
The Fall of Jerusalem 1Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was [a]Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
2He did evil in the sight of the LORD, in accordance with everything that Jehoiakim had done.
3For because of the anger of the LORD this came about in Jerusalem and Judah, until He drove them out from His presence. And Zedekiah revolted against the king of Babylon.
4Now it came about in the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, camped against it, and built a [b]bulwark all around [c]it.
5So the city was under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
6On 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.
7Then the city was breached, and all the warriors fled and left the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls which was by the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were [d]all around the city. And they went by way of the Arabah.
8But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the [e]desert plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him.
9Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he [f]passed sentence on him.
10And the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also slaughtered all the commanders of Judah in Riblah.
11Then he blinded the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him with bronze shackles and brought him to Babylon and put him in prison until the day of his death.
12Now on the tenth day of the fifth month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, who [g]was in the service of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
13And he burned the house of the LORD, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; even every large house he burned with fire.
14So the entire army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard tore down all the walls around Jerusalem.
15Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took into exile some of the poorest of the people, the rest of the people who were left in the city, the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen.
16But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and farmers.
17Now the bronze pillars which belonged to the house of the LORD and the stands and the bronze [h]sea, which were in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans smashed to pieces and carried all their bronze |
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