1 ARST After Zedekiah had been ruling for nine years, on the tenth day of the tenth month of that year, King Nebuchadnezzar arrived with his whole army. They surrounded Jerusalem. Against the walls of the city, they built ramps made of earth, so that they could climb up and attack the city. BSB BSB: So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army. They encamped outside the city and built a siege wall all around it.
2 ARST It took them two years to do that. BSB BSB: And the city was kept under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year.
3 ARST After Zedekiah had been ruling for eleven years, by the ninth day of the fourth month of that year, the famine had become very bad. All the people’ s food was gone. BSB BSB: By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that the people of the land had no food.
4 ARST Then the Babylonian soldiers broke through part of the city wall, and that enabled them to enter the city. All the soldiers of Judah tried to escape. But the Babylonian soldiers surrounded the city, so the king and the soldiers of Judah waited until it was nighttime. Then they fled through the gate that was between the two walls near the king’ s park. They ran across the fields and started to go down to the plain along the Jordan River. BSB BSB: Then the city was breached; and though the Chaldeans had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden. They headed toward the Arabah,
5 ARST But the Babylonian soldiers chased after them. They caught the king when he was by himself in the plains of Jericho. He was by himself because all his soldiers had abandoned him. BSB BSB: but the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and his whole army deserted him.
6 ARST The Babylonian soldiers took King Zedekiah to the city of Riblah in Babylonia. There the king of Babylon decided what they would do to punish him. BSB BSB: The Chaldeans seized the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where they pronounced judgment on him.
7 ARST The king of Babylon forced Zedekiah to watch as the Babylonian soldiers killed all of Zedekiah’ s sons. Then they gouged out Zedekiah’ s eyes. They put bronze chains on his hands and feet and took him to the city of Babylon. BSB BSB: And they slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.
9 ARST He ordered his soldiers to burn down Yahweh’ s temple, the king’ s palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem. So they burned down all the important buildings in the city. BSB BSB: He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building.
10 ARST Then Nebuzaradan supervised the Babylonian soldiers as they tore down the walls surrounding Jerusalem. BSB BSB: And the whole army of the Chaldeans under the captain of the guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem.
11 ARST After that, he and his soldiers took to Babylon the people who were still living in the city, the other people who lived in the region of Judah, and the soldiers who had previously surrendered to the Babylonian army. BSB BSB: Then Nebuzaradan captain of the guard carried into exile the people who remained in the city, along with the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon and the rest of the population.
12 ARST But Nebuzaradan allowed some of the very poor people to stay in Judah to take care of the vineyards and to plant crops in the fields. BSB BSB: But the captain of the guard left behind some of the poorest of the land to tend the vineyards and fields.
13 ARST The Babylonian soldiers broke into pieces the bronze pillars, the bronze stands with wheels, and the large bronze tank known as“The Sea,” all of which were in the temple courtyard, and they took all the bronze to Babylon. BSB BSB: Moreover, the Chaldeans broke up the bronze pillars and stands and the bronze Sea in the house of the LORD, and they carried the bronze to Babylon.
14 ARST They also took the pots, the shovels, the instruments for snuffing out the lamps, the dishes, and all the other bronze items that the Israelite priests had used for offering sacrifices in the temple. BSB BSB: They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes, and all the articles of bronze used in the temple service.
15 ARST The soldiers also took away the pans for the ashes of the sacrifices, the basins, and all the other items made of gold or silver. BSB BSB: The captain of the guard also took away the censers and sprinkling bowls—anything made of pure gold or fine silver.
16 ARST The bronze from the two pillars, the bronze stands with wheels, and the huge tank that was called“The Sea,” were all so very heavy that they could not be weighed. These things had been made for the temple when Solomon was the king of Israel. BSB BSB: As for the two pillars, the Sea, and the movable stands that Solomon had made for the house of the LORD, the weight of the bronze from all these articles was beyond measure.
17 ARST Each of the pillars was eight and one- third meters high. The bronze capital of each pillar was one and one- third meters high. They were each decorated all around with something that looked like a net made of bronze chains connecting bronze pomegranates. BSB BSB: Each pillar was eighteen cubits tall. The bronze capital atop one pillar was three cubits high, with a network of bronze pomegranates all around. The second pillar, with its network, was similar.
18 ARST Nebuzaradan took with him to Babylon Seraiah, the high priest; Zephaniah, his assistant; and the three men who guarded the entrance to the temple. BSB BSB: The captain of the guard also took away Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest of second rank, and the three doorkeepers.
19 ARST From the people who were still left in Jerusalem, he took one officer from the Judean army, five of the king’ s advisors, the chief secretary of the army commander who was in charge of recruiting men to join the army, and sixty other important Judean men. BSB BSB: Of those still in the city, he took a court official who had been appointed over the men of war, as well as five royal advisors. He also took the scribe of the captain of the army, who had enlisted the people of the land, and sixty men who were found in the city.
20 ARST Nebuzaradan took them all to the king of Babylon at the city of Riblah. BSB BSB: Nebuzaradan captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
21 ARST There at the city of Riblah, in the province of Hamath, the king of Babylon commanded that they all be executed. That is what happened when the people of Judah were taken forcefully from their land to Babylon. BSB BSB: There at Riblah in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death. So Judah was taken into exile, away from its own land.
22 ARST Then King Nebuchadnezzar appointed a man named Gedaliah to be the governor of the people who he still allowed to live in Judah. Gedaliah was a son of Ahikam and a grandson of Shaphan. BSB BSB: Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, over the people he had left behind in the land of Judah.
23 ARST When all the army commanders in Judah and their soldiers found out that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah to be the governor, they met with him at the city of Mizpah. These commanders were Ishmael son of Nethaniah; Johanan son of Kareah; Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, from the city of Netophah; and Jaazaniah, from the region of Maacah. BSB BSB: When all the commanders of the armies and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite, as well as their men.
24 ARST Gedaliah solemnly promised them that the officials from Babylon were not planning to harm them. He said,“You may live in this land without being afraid; you should obey the king of Babylon. If you do, everything will go well for you.” BSB BSB: And Gedaliah took an oath before them and their men, assuring them, “Do not be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you.”
25 ARST But in the seventh month of that year, Ishmael, whose grandfather Elishama was in the family descended from King David, went to Mizpah along with ten other men. They assassinated Gedaliah and all the men with him. There were also men from Judah and men from Babylon whom they assassinated. BSB BSB: In the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family, came with ten men and struck down and killed Gedaliah, along with the Judeans and Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.
26 ARST Then many of the people from Judah, important people and unimportant ones, and the army commanders were very afraid of what the Babylonians would do to them, so they fled to Egypt. BSB BSB: Then all the people small and great, together with the commanders of the army, arose and fled to Egypt for fear of the Chaldeans.
28 ARST He always spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and honored him more than the other kings who had been taken to Babylon. BSB BSB: And he spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and set his throne above the thrones of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.
29 ARST He gave Jehoiachin new clothes to replace the clothes that he had been wearing in prison, and he allowed Jehoiachin to eat at the king’ s table every day for the rest of his life. BSB BSB: So Jehoiachin changed out of his prison clothes, and he dined regularly at the king’s table for the rest of his life.
30 ARST The king of Babylon also gave him money every day, so that he could buy the things that he needed. The king continued to do that until Jehoiachin died. BSB BSB: And the king provided Jehoiachin a daily portion for the rest of his life.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.