2 Kings 24:18-25:12

Zedekiah King of Judah 18Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah. 19He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, just as Jehoiakim had done.

20It was because of the LORD ’s anger that all this happened to Jerusalem and Judah, and in the end he thrust them from his presence. The Fall of Jerusalem 20Now Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

1So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army. He encamped outside the city and built siege works all around it.

2The city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 3By the ninth day of the fourth Probable reading of the original Hebrew text (see Jer. 52:6); Masoretic Text does not have fourth. month the famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat. 4Then the city wall was broken through, and the whole army fled at night through the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, though the Babylonians Or Chaldeans; also in verses 13, 25 and 26 were surrounding the city. They fled toward the Arabah, Or the Jordan Valley 5but the Babylonian Or Chaldean; also in verses 10 and 24 army pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered,

6and he was captured. He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where sentence was pronounced on him.

7They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon. 8On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, an official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9He set fire to the temple of the LORD, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down. 10The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the imperial guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem. 11Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile the people who remained in the city, along with the rest of the populace and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon.

12But the commander left behind some of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.