1
And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nevukhadnetzar king of Bavel came, he and all his host, against Yerushalayim. And he encamped against it and built a siege wall against it all around.
2
And the city came under siege until the eleventh year of King Tzidqiyahu.
3
On the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine became severe in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.
4
And the city was broken through. And all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was beside the king’s garden, while the Kasdim were against the city all around. And the king went by the way of the Arabah.
5
And the host of the Kasdim pursued after the king and overtook him in the plains of Yericho. And all his host was scattered from upon him.
6
And they seized the king and brought him up to the king of Bavel at Rivlah, and they spoke Judgment upon him.
7
And they slaughtered the sons of Tzidqiyahu before his eyes. And he blinded the eyes of Tzidqiyahu and bound him with bronze chains and brought him to Bavel.
8
And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month—which was the nineteenth year of King Nevukhadnetzar king of Bavel—Nevuzaradan, chief of the executioners, servant of the king of Bavel, came to Yerushalayim.
9
And he burned the House of Yahuah, and the house of the king, and all the houses of Yerushalayim. And every great house he burned with fire.
10
And all the host of the Kasdim who were with the chief of the executioners tore down the walls of Yerushalayim all around.
11
And the remainder of the people who remained in the city, and those who had fallen away to the king of Bavel, and the remainder of the multitude, Nevuzaradan chief of the executioners carried captive.
12
But the chief of the executioners left some from the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and farmers.
13
And the bronze pillars that were in the House of Yahuah, and the stands, and the bronze sea that was in the House of Yahuah, the Kasdim broke in pieces and carried their bronze to Bavel.
14
And the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the bronze vessels with which they ministered, they took away.
15
And the firepans, and the bowls—whatever was of gold, in gold, and whatever was of silver, in silver—the chief of the executioners took.
16
The two pillars, the one sea, and the stands that Shəlomah had made for the House of Yahuah—there was no weight to the bronze of all these vessels.
17
Eighteen cubits was the height of the one pillar, and the capital upon it was bronze. And the height of the capital was three cubits, with network and pomegranates upon the capital all around, all of bronze. And like these was the second pillar with the network.
18
And the chief of the executioners took Serayah the chief kohen, and Tzefanyahu the second kohen, and the three guards of the threshold.
19
And from the city he took one eunuch who was appointed over the men of war, and five men from those who saw the face of the king, who were found in the city, and the scribe of the commander of the host, who mustered the people of the land, and sixty ish from the people of the land who were found in the city.
20
And Nevuzaradan chief of the executioners took them and brought them to the king of Bavel at Rivlah.
21
And the king of Bavel struck them and put them to death at Rivlah in the land of Chamat. And Yehudah was carried captive from upon its land.
22
And as for the people who remained in the land of Yehudah, whom Nevukhadnetzar king of Bavel had left, he appointed over them Gedalyahu son of Achiqam, son of Shafan.
23
And all the commanders of the hosts, they and their men, heard that the king of Bavel had appointed Gedalyahu. And they came to Gedalyahu at Mitzpah: Yishmael son of Netanyah, and Yochanan son of Qareach, and Serayah son of Tanchumet the Netofati, and Yaazanyahu son of the Maakhti, they and their men.
24
And Gedalyahu swore to them and to their men and said to them: “Do not fear because of the servants of the Kasdim. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Bavel, and it shall be good for you.”
25
And it came to pass in the seventh month that Yishmael son of Netanyah, son of Elishama, from the Seed of the Kingdom, came, and ten ish with him. And they struck Gedalyahu, and he died, and also the Yehudim and the Kasdim who were with him at Mitzpah.
26
And all the people, from small even to great, and the commanders of the hosts, rose and went to Mitzrayim, for they feared before the Kasdim.
27
And it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Yehoyakhin king of Yehudah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, that Evil-Merodakh king of Bavel, in the year he began to reign, lifted up the head of Yehoyakhin king of Yehudah from the house of confinement.
28
And he spoke good things with him and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Bavel.
29
And he changed the garments of his confinement, and he ate bread continually before his face all the days of his life.
30
And his provision—a continual provision—was given to him from the king, a matter of day in its day, all the days of his life.