The Fall of Jerusalem

¹Zedekiah rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia, and so Nebuchadnezzar came with all his army and attacked Jerusalem on the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign. They set up camp outside the city, built siege walls around it,

²and kept it under siege until Zedekiah's eleventh year.

³On the ninth day of the fourth month of that same year, when the famine was so bad that the people had nothing left to eat,

⁴the city walls were broken through. Although the Babylonians were surrounding the city, all the soldiers escaped during the night. They left by way of the royal garden, went through the gateway connecting the two walls, and fled in the direction of the Jordan Valley.

⁵But the Babylonian army pursued King Zedekiah, captured him in the plains near Jericho, and all his soldiers deserted him.

⁶Zedekiah was taken to King Nebuchadnezzar, who was in the city of Riblah, and there Nebuchadnezzar passed sentence on him.

⁷While Zedekiah was looking on, his sons were put to death; then Nebuchadnezzar had Zedekiah's eyes put out, placed him in chains, and took him to Babylon.

The Destruction of the Temple

⁸On the seventh day of the fifth month of the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia, Nebuzaradan, adviser to the king and commander of his army, entered Jerusalem.

⁹He burned down the Temple, the palace, and the houses of all the important people in Jerusalem,

¹⁰and his soldiers tore down the city walls.

¹¹Then Nebuzaradan took away to Babylonia the people who were left in the city, the remaining skilled workers, and those who had deserted to the Babylonians.

¹²But he left in Judah some of the poorest people, who owned no property, and put them to work in the vineyards and fields.

¹³The Babylonians broke in pieces the bronze columns and the carts that were in the Temple, together with the large bronze tank, and they took all the bronze to Babylon.

¹⁴They also took away the shovels and the ash containers used in cleaning the altar, the tools used in tending the lamps, the bowls used for catching the blood from the sacrifices, the bowls used for burning incense, and all the other bronze articles used in the Temple service.

¹⁵They took away everything that was made of gold or silver, including the small bowls and the pans used for carrying live coals.

¹⁶The bronze objects that King Solomon had made for the Temple—the two columns, the carts, and the large tank—were too heavy to weigh.

¹⁷The two columns were identical: each one was 27 feet high, with a bronze capital on top, 4½ feet high. All around each capital was a bronze grillwork decorated with pomegranates made of bronze.

The People of Judah Are Taken to Babylonia

¹⁸In addition, Nebuzaradan, the commanding officer, took away as prisoners Seraiah the High Priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank, and the three other important Temple officials.

¹⁹From the city he took the officer who had been in command of the troops, five of the king's personal advisers who were still in the city, the commander's assistant, who was in charge of military records, and sixty other important men.

²⁰Nebuzaradan took them to the king of Babylonia, who was in the city of Riblah

²¹in the territory of Hamath. There the king had them beaten and put to death. So the people of Judah were carried away from their land into exile.

Gedaliah, Governor of Judah

²²King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia made Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, governor of Judah, and placed him in charge of all those who had not been taken away to Babylonia.

²³When the Judean officers and soldiers who had not surrendered heard about this, they joined Gedaliah at Mizpah. These officers were Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth from the town of Netophah, and Jezaniah from Maacah.

²⁴Gedaliah said to them, “I give you my word that there is no need for you to be afraid of the Babylonian officials. Settle in this land, serve the king of Babylonia, and all will go well with you.”

²⁵But in the seventh month of that year, Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah and grandson of Elishama, a member of the royal family, went to Mizpah with ten men, attacked Gedaliah, and killed him. He also killed the Israelites and Babylonians who were there with him.

²⁶Then all the Israelites, rich and poor alike, together with the army officers, left and went to Egypt, because they were afraid of the Babylonians.

Jehoiachin Is Released from Prison

²⁷In the year that Evilmerodach became king of Babylonia, he showed kindness to King Jehoiachin of Judah by releasing him from prison. This happened on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year after Jehoiachin had been taken away as prisoner.

²⁸Evilmerodach treated him kindly and gave him a position of greater honor than he gave the other kings who were exiles with him in Babylonia.

²⁹So Jehoiachin was permitted to change from his prison clothes and to dine at the king's table for the rest of his life.

³⁰Each day, for as long as he lived, he was given a regular allowance for his needs.

King Joahaz of Judah

¹The people of Judah chose Josiah's son Joahaz and anointed him king in Jerusalem.

²Joahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for three months.

³King Neco of Egypt took him prisoner and made Judah pay 7,500 pounds of silver and 75 pounds of gold as tribute.

⁴Neco made Joahaz' brother Eliakim king of Judah and changed his name to Jehoiakim. Joahaz was taken to Egypt by Neco.

King Jehoiakim of Judah

⁵Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. He sinned against the Lord his God.

⁶King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia invaded Judah, captured Jehoiakim, and took him to Babylonia in chains.

⁷Nebuchadnezzar carried off some of the treasures of the Temple and put them in his palace in Babylon.

⁸Everything that Jehoiakim did, including his disgusting practices and the evil he committed, is recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel and Judah. His son Jehoiachin succeeded him as king.

King Jehoiachin of Judah

⁹Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for three months and ten days. He too sinned against the Lord.

¹⁰When spring came, King Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin to Babylonia as a prisoner and carried off the treasures of the Temple. Then Nebuchadnezzar made Jehoiachin's uncle Zedekiah king of Judah and Jerusalem.

King Zedekiah of Judah

¹¹Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years.

¹²He sinned against the Lord and did not listen humbly to the prophet Jeremiah, who spoke the word of the Lord.

The Fall of Jerusalem

¹³Zedekiah rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had forced him to swear in God's name that he would be loyal. He stubbornly refused to repent and return to the Lord, the God of Israel.

¹⁴In addition, the leaders of Judah, the priests, and the people followed the sinful example of the nations around them in worshiping idols, and so they defiled the Temple, which the Lord himself had made holy.

¹⁵The Lord, the God of their ancestors, had continued to send prophets to warn his people, because he wanted to spare them and the Temple.

¹⁶But they made fun of God's messengers, ignoring his words and laughing at his prophets, until at last the Lord's anger against his people was so great that there was no escape.

¹⁷So the Lord brought the king of Babylonia to attack them. The king killed the young men of Judah even in the Temple. He had no mercy on anyone, young or old, man or woman, sick or healthy. God handed them all over to him.

¹⁸The king of Babylonia looted the Temple, the Temple treasury, and the wealth of the king and his officials, and took everything back to Babylon.

¹⁹He burned down the Temple and the city, with all its palaces and its wealth, and broke down the city wall.

²⁰He took all the survivors to Babylonia, where they served him and his descendants as slaves until the rise of the Persian Empire.

²¹And so what the Lord had foretold through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “The land will lie desolate for seventy years, to make up for the Sabbath rest that has not been observed.”

Cyrus Commands the Jews to Return

²²In the first year that Cyrus of Persia was emperor, the Lord made what he had said through the prophet Jeremiah come true. He prompted Cyrus to issue the following command and send it out in writing to be read aloud everywhere in his empire:

²³“This is the command of Cyrus, Emperor of Persia. The Lord, the God of Heaven, has made me ruler over the whole world and has given me the responsibility of building a temple for him in Jerusalem in Judah. Now, all of you who are God's people, go there, and may the Lord your God be with you.”

Wisdom and Stupidity

¹Wisdom has built her house and made seven columns for it.

²She has had an animal killed for a feast, mixed spices in the wine, and set the table.

³She has sent her servant women to call out from the highest place in town:

⁴“Come in, ignorant people!” And to the foolish she says,

⁵“Come, eat my food and drink the wine that I have mixed.

⁶Leave the company of ignorant people, and live. Follow the way of knowledge.”