2Ki 25:1-21 | ESV | STEP | And in the ninth year of his reign , in the tenth month , on the tenth day of the month , Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem and laid siege to it. And they built siegeworks all around it.

2 Kings 25:1-21

Fall and Captivity of Judah

1 ^aAnd in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, ^bNebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem and laid siege to it. ^cAnd they built siegeworks all around it. 2 So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 3 On the ninth day of the fourth month ^dthe famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. 4 Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, by ^ethe king’s garden, and ^fthe Chaldeans were around the city. And they went in the direction of the ^gArabah. 5 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him. 6 Then they captured the king ^hand brought him up to the king of Babylon at ⁱRiblah, and they passed sentence on him. 7 They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, ^jand put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains and took him to Babylon.

8 ^kIn the fifth month, on ^lthe seventh day of the month—that was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the captain of the bodyguard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9 ^mAnd he burned the house of the Lord ⁿand the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. 10 And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, ^obroke down the walls around Jerusalem. 11 ^pAnd the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile. 12 But the captain of the guard left ^qsome of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.

13 ^rAnd the pillars ^sof bronze that were in the house of the Lord, and ^tthe stands and ^uthe bronze sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces and carried the bronze to Babylon. 14 ^vAnd they took away the pots and the shovels and the snuffers and the dishes for incense and all the vessels of bronze used in the temple service, 15 the fire pans also and the bowls. What was of gold the captain of the guard took away as gold, and what was of silver, as silver. 16 As for the two pillars, the one sea, and the stands that Solomon had made for the house of the Lord, ^wthe bronze of all these vessels was beyond weight. 17 ^xThe height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, ^{▼▼A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters} and on it was a capital of bronze. The height of the capital was three cubits. A latticework and pomegranates, all of bronze, were all around the capital. And the second pillar had the same, with the latticework.

18 ^zAnd the captain of the guard took ^aaSeraiah the chief priest and ^abZephaniah the second priest and the three keepers of the threshold; 19 and from the city he took an officer who had been in command of the men of war, and ^acfive men of the king’s council who were found in the city; and the secretary of the commander of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the city. 20 And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at ^adRiblah. 21 And the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at ^aeRiblah in the land of Hamath. ^afSo Judah was taken into exile out of its land.