2 Kings 24 – 25

Judgment for Judah

2 Kings 24

¹ In the days of Jehoiakim, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years, but he then rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar again.

² Then the Lord sent bands of Chaldeans, bands of Arameans, bands of Moabites, and bands of Ammonite raiders against Jehoiakim. He sent them into Judah to destroy them according to the word of the Lord, which he had spoken through his servants the prophets. ³ Surely this happened at the Lord’s command to remove them from his presence because of all the sins Manasseh had committed, ⁴ as well as the innocent blood he had shed. He filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing to forgive.

⁵ As for the rest of Jehoiakim’s deeds and everything he did, are they not written in the annals of the kings of Judah? ⁶ Jehoiakim rested with his fathers. Then his son Jehoiachin became king in his place.

⁷ The king of Egypt did not march out from his land again because the king of Babylon had seized everything that had belonged to the king of Egypt, from the Stream of Egypt to the Euphrates River.

Jehoiachin Son of Jehoiakim, King of Judah

⁸ Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he ruled for three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan from Jerusalem.

⁹ He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just like everything that his father had done. ¹⁰ At that time, the officers of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem and put the city under siege. ¹¹ Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city while his officers were besieging it.

¹² Then Jehoiachin king of Judah surrendered to the king of Babylon—he and his mother, his officials, his officers, and his eunuchs. ^[1] In the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, he took Jehoiachin prisoner. ¹³ He brought out all the treasures of the House of the Lord and the treasures of the palace of the king. He cut up all the gold articles in the House of the Lord, which Solomon king of Israel had made, just as the Lord had said. ¹⁴ He exiled all Jerusalem and all the officers and all the warriors—ten thousand men went into exile—as well as all the craftsmen and metal workers. No one was left except the poorest people of the land. ¹⁵ He exiled Jehoiachin to Babylon. He also took the king’s mother, the king’s wives, his eunuchs, and the leading citizens of the land into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. ¹⁶ The king of Babylon also took into exile all the soldiers—seven thousand men—and the craftsmen and metal workers—a thousand men, all strong and trained for war. ^{[2] 17} Then the king of Babylon made Jehoiachin’s uncle Mattaniah king in his place, but he changed his name to Zedekiah.

Zedekiah Son of Josiah, the Last King of Judah

¹⁸ Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah. ¹⁹ He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just like everything that Jehoiakim had done. ²⁰ Surely it was because of the Lord’s wrath that all this fell upon Jerusalem and Judah, until he cast them from his presence. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

The Final Siege of Jerusalem

2 Kings 25

¹ In the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came up against Jerusalem. He laid siege to it and built a rampart around it. ² The city was under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. ³ By the ninth day of the fourth month, ^[3] famine gripped the city, and the people of the land had no bread.

⁴ Then the city wall was breached, and all the soldiers fled toward the Arabah through the gate that was between the two walls near the king’s garden, while the Chaldeans ^[4] were surrounding the city. ⁵ But the Chaldean army pursued the king. They caught him in the Arabah near Jericho. His whole army was scattered away from him. ⁶ So they seized the king. They brought him to the king of Babylon in Riblah, and a sentence was pronounced on him. ⁷ They slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes, and then Zedekiah was blinded. They bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.

Jerusalem Destroyed and the People Deported

⁸ In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, ^[5] an officer of the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem. ⁹ He burned the Lord’s house and the king’s palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. He burned down every large building. ¹⁰ The whole Chaldean army, which was under the captain of the guard, tore down the walls around Jerusalem. ¹¹ Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, exiled the rest of the people who remained in the city along with those who had previously surrendered to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the crowds. ^{[6] 12} But the captain of the guard left the poorest people of the land to tend the vineyards and farms.

¹³ The Chaldeans broke up the bronze pillars which were in the House of the Lord and the carts and the bronze sea which was in the House of the Lord, and they took the bronze to Babylon. ¹⁴ They took the pots, shovels, snuffers, ^[7] and bowls and all the bronze utensils with which they served. ¹⁵ The captain of the guard took the fire pans and the bowls—whatever was made of pure gold and pure silver. ¹⁶ The bronze from all these articles—the two pillars, the sea, and the carts which Solomon had made for the House of the Lord—could not be weighed. ¹⁷ The height of one pillar was twenty-seven feet, and the capital on it was bronze. The height of the capital was four and a half feet. Latticework and pomegranates went all around the capital. All this was bronze, and the other pillar with its latticework was the same.

¹⁸ The captain of the guard took Seriah the chief priest and Zephaniah the second-ranking priest and three doorkeepers. ¹⁹ From the city, he took an official who was in charge of the soldiers and five of the king’s close advisors, who were found in the city, as well as the secretary, the army commander who drafted the people of the land, and sixty men from the people of the land, who were found in the city. ²⁰ Nebuzaradan captain of the guard took them and brought them with him to the king of Babylon in Riblah. ²¹ The king of Babylon struck them down and killed them in Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah went into exile from her country.

The People Left in the Land

²² Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, over the people who remained in the land, because he had left some people behind. ²³ All the commanders of the army and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, so they went to Gedaliah at Mizpah. They were Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seriah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, Ja’azaniah son of the Ma’akathite, and their men.

²⁴ Then Gedaliah swore an oath to them and to their men and said, “Don’t be afraid of the officials of the Chaldeans. Return to the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well for you.”

²⁵ But in the seventh month Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was of royal descent, came with ten men and struck down Gedaliah and killed him along with the men of Judah and the Chaldeans who were with him in Mizpah. ²⁶ Then all the people from the least to the greatest and the commanders of the army set out and went to Egypt because they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

Jehoiachin Released

²⁷ In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evil Merodach ^[8] king of Babylon, in the year he became king, released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. ²⁸ He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. ²⁹ So Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes, and he ate bread continually in the king’s presence all the days of his life. ³⁰ A regular allowance was given to him from the king, for his daily needs, all the days of his life.