Chapter 25

1 So on January 15,[1][Hebrew on the tenth day of the tenth month, of the Hebrew calendar. A number of events in 2 Kings can be cross-checked with dates in surviving Babylonian records and related accurately to our modern calendar. This event occurred on January 15, 588 B.C.] during the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon led his entire army against Jerusalem. They surrounded the city and built siege ramps against its walls.
2 Jerusalem was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah's reign.
        3 By July 18 of Zedekiah's eleventh year,[2][Hebrew By the ninth day, that is, "of the fourth month of Zedekiah's eleventh year" (compare Jer 52:6 and the note there). This event of the Hebrew lunar calendar occurred on July 18, 586 B.C.; also see note on 25:1.] the famine in the city had become very severe, with the last of the food entirely gone.
4 Then a section of the city wall was broken down, and all the soldiers made plans to escape from the city. But since the city was surrounded by the Babylonians,[3][Or the Chaldeans; also in 25:5, 13, 25, 26.] they waited for nightfall and fled through the gate between the two walls behind the king's gardens. They made a dash across the fields, in the direction of the Jordan Valley.[4][Hebrew the Arabah. ]
        5 But the Babylonians chased after them and caught the king on the plains of Jericho, for by then his men had all abandoned him.
6 They brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where sentence was passed against him.
7 The king of Babylon made Zedekiah watch as all his sons were killed. Then they gouged out Zedekiah's eyes, bound him in bronze chains, and led him away to Babylon.

The Temple Destroyed

8 On August 14 of that year,[5][Hebrew On the seventh day of the fifth month, of the Hebrew calendar. This day was August 14, 586 B.C.; also see note on 25:1.] which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, an official of the Babylonian king, arrived in Jerusalem.
9 He burned down the Temple of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He destroyed all the important buildings in the city.
10 Then the captain of the guard supervised the entire Babylonian[6][Or Chaldean; also in 25:24.] army as they tore down the walls of Jerusalem.
11 Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, then took as exiles those who remained in the city, along with the rest of the people and the troops who had declared their allegiance to the king of Babylon.
12 But the captain of the guard allowed some of the poorest people to stay behind in Judah to care for the vineyards and fields.
        13 The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the bronze water carts, and the bronze Sea that were at the LORD's Temple, and they carried all the bronze away to Babylon.
14 They also took all the pots, shovels, lamp snuffers, dishes, and all the other bronze utensils used for making sacrifices at the Temple.
15 Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, also took the firepans and basins, and all the other utensils made of pure gold or silver.
        16 The bronze from the two pillars, the water carts, and the Sea was too great to be weighed. These things had been made for the LORD's Temple in the days of King Solomon.
17 Each of the pillars was 27 feet[7][Hebrew 18cubits [8.1 meters].] tall. The bronze capital on top of each pillar was 7½ feet[8][As in parallel texts at 1Kgs 7:16, 2Chr 3:15, and Jer 52:22, all of which read 5cubits [2.3 meters]; Hebrew reads 3 cubits, which is 4.5 feet or 1.4 meters.] high and was decorated with a network of bronze pomegranates all the way around.
        18 The captain of the guard took with him as prisoners Seraiah the chief priest, his assistant Zephaniah, and the three chief gatekeepers.
19 And of the people still hiding in the city, he took an officer of the Judean army, five of the king's personal advisers, the army commander's chief secretary, who was in charge of recruitment, and sixty other citizens.
20 Nebuzaradan the commander took them all to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
21 And there at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon had them all put to death. So the people of Judah were sent into exile from their land.