New Living Translation

New King James Version

The Fall of Jerusalem

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah.

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The Fall of Jerusalem Reviewed

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

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But Zedekiah did what was evil in the LORD’s sight, just as Jehoiakim had done.

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He also did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

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These things happened because of the LORD’s anger against the people of Jerusalem and Judah, until he finally banished them from his presence and sent them into exile.
Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

3

For because of the anger of the Lord this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, till He finally cast them out from His presence. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

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So on January 15,a during the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, King Nebuchadnezzarb of Babylon led his entire army against Jerusalem. They surrounded the city and built siege ramps against its walls.

4

Now it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around.

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Jerusalem was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah’s reign.

5

So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

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By July 18 in the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s reign,c the famine in the city had become very severe, and the last of the food was entirely gone.

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By the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.

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Then a section of the city wall was broken down, and all the soldiers fled. Since the city was surrounded by the Babylonians,d they waited for nightfall. Then they slipped through the gate between the two walls behind the king’s garden and headed toward the Jordan Valley.e

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Then the city wall was broken through, and all the men of war fled and went out of the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden, even though the Chaldeans were near the city all around. And they went by way of the [a]plain.

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But the Babylonian troops chased King Zedekiah and overtook him on the plains of Jericho, for his men had all deserted him and scattered.

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But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and they overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. All his army was scattered from him.

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They captured the king and took him to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath. There the king of Babylon pronounced judgment upon Zedekiah.

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So they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he pronounced judgment on him.

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The king of Babylon made Zedekiah watch as he slaughtered his sons. He also slaughtered all the officials of Judah at Riblah.

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Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. And he killed all the princes of Judah in Riblah.

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Then he gouged out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him in bronze chains, and the king of Babylon led him away to Babylon. Zedekiah remained there in prison until the day of his death.

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He also put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in [b]bronze fetters, took him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.

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The Temple Destroyed

On August 17 of that year,f which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard and an official of the Babylonian king, arrived in Jerusalem.

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The Temple and City Plundered and Burned

Now in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month (which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.

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He burned down the Temple of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He destroyed all the important buildingsg in the city.

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He burned the house of the Lord and the king’s house; all the houses of Jerusalem, that is, all the houses of the great, he burned with fire.

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Then he supervised the entire Babylonianh army as they tore down the walls of Jerusalem on every side.

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And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around.

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Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took as exiles some of the poorest of the people, the rest of the people who remained in the city, the defectors who had declared their allegiance to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen.

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Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive some of the poor people, the rest of the people who remained in the city, the defectors who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen.

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But Nebuzaradan allowed some of the poorest people to stay behind to care for the vineyards and fields.

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But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poor of the land as vinedressers and farmers.

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The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars in front of the LORD’s Temple, the bronze water carts, and the great bronze basin called the Sea, and they carried all the bronze away to Babylon.

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The bronze pillars that were in the house of the Lord, and the carts and the bronze Sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried all their bronze to Babylon.

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They also took all the ash buckets, shovels, lamp snuffers, basins, dishes, and all the other bronze articles used for making sacrifices at the Temple.

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They also took away the pots, the shovels, the trimmers, the [c]bowls, the spoons, and all the bronze utensils with which the priests ministered.

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The captain of the guard also took the small bowls, incense burners, basins, pots, lampstands, ladles, bowls used for liquid offerings, and all the other articles made of pure gold or silver.

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The basins, the firepans, the bowls, the pots, the lampstands, the spoons, and the cups, whatever was solid gold and whatever was solid silver, the captain of the guard took away.

20

The weight of the bronze from the two pillars, the Sea with the twelve bronze oxen beneath it, and the water carts was too great to be measured. These things had been made for the LORD’s Temple in the days of King Solomon.

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The two pillars, one Sea, the twelve bronze bulls which were under it, and the carts, which King Solomon had made for the house of the Lord — the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure.

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Each of the pillars was 27 feet tall and 18 feet in circumference.i They were hollow, with walls 3 inches thick.j

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Now concerning the pillars: the height of one pillar was eighteen [d]cubits, a measuring line of twelve cubits could measure its circumference, and its thickness was [e]four fingers; it was hollow.

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The bronze capital on top of each pillar was 7 1/2 feetk high and was decorated with a network of bronze pomegranates all the way around.

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A capital of bronze was on it; and the height of one capital was five cubits, with a network and pomegranates all around the capital, all of bronze. The second pillar, with pomegranates was the same.

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There were 96 pomegranates on the sides, and a total of 100 pomegranates on the network around the top.

23

There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates, all around on the network, were one hundred.

24

Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took with him as prisoners Seraiah the high priest, Zephaniah the priest of the second rank, and the three chief gatekeepers.

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The People Taken Captive to Babylonia

The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers.

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And from among the people still hiding in the city, he took an officer who had been in charge of the Judean army; seven of the king’s personal advisers; the army commander’s chief secretary, who was in charge of recruitment; and sixty other citizens.

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He also took out of the city an [f]officer who had charge of the men of war, seven men of the king’s close associates who were found in the city, the principal scribe of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city.

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Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took them all to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

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And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took these and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

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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.

27

Then the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive from its own land.

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The number of captives taken to Babylon in the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reignl was 3,023.

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These are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Jews;

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Then in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth yearm he took 832 more.

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in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred and thirty-two persons;

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In Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third yearn he sent Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, who took 745 more — a total of 4,600 captives in all.

30

in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred and forty-five persons. All the persons were four thousand six hundred.

31

Hope for Israel’s Royal Line

In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, Evil-merodach ascended to the Babylonian throne. He was kind too Jehoiachin and released him from prison on March 31 of that year.p

31

Jehoiachin Released from Prison

Now it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, that [g]Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted[h] up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison.

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He spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and gave him a higher place than all the other exiled kings in Babylon.

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And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a more prominent seat than those of the kings who were with him in Babylon.

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He supplied Jehoiachin with new clothes to replace his prison garb and allowed him to dine in the king’s presence for the rest of his life.

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So [i]Jehoiachin changed from his prison garments, and he ate bread regularly before the king all the days of his life.

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So the Babylonian king gave him a regular food allowance as long as he lived. This continued until the day of his death.

34

And as for his provisions, there was a regular ration given him by the king of Babylon, a portion for each day until the day of his death, all the days of his life.

Parallel

New Living Translation

New King James Version

Jeremiah 52

Jeremiah 52