1 ARST Zedekiah was twenty- one years old when he became the king of Judah. He ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother was Hamutal, the daughter of a man named Jeremiah from Libnah. BSB BSB: Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah.
2 ARST Zedekiah did many things that Yahweh says are evil, like his father Jehoiakim had done. BSB BSB: And Zedekiah did evil in the sight of the LORD, just as Jehoiakim had done.
3 ARST The events described here happened because Yahweh was angry with the people of Jerusalem and of other places in Judah, and finally he exiled them and said that he did not want to have anything to do with them anymore. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. BSB BSB: For because of the anger of the LORD, all this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, until He finally banished them from His presence. And Zedekiah also rebelled against the king of Babylon.
4 ARST So, on the tenth day of the tenth month, when Zedekiah had been ruling for almost nine years, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon led his entire army to attack Jerusalem. They surrounded the city and built dirt ramps up to the top of the city walls to enable them to 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.
5 ARST They continued to surround Jerusalem until Zedekiah had been ruling for almost eleven years. BSB BSB: And the city was kept under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year.
6 ARST When Zedekiah had been ruling for almost eleven years, on the ninth day of the fourth month of that year, the famine in the city had become very severe, and there was no more food for the people to eat. 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.
7 ARST Then the soldiers of Babylonia broke through a section of the city wall, and all the Israelite soldiers fled. But because the city was surrounded by soldiers from Babylonia, Zedekiah and the Israelite soldiers waited until it became dark. Then they left the city through the gate between the two walls behind the king’ s garden. Then they ran toward the plain along the Jordan. BSB BSB: Then the city was breached; and though the Chaldeans had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled the city by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden. They headed toward the Arabah,
8 ARST But the soldiers of Babylonia pursued King Zedekiah, and they caught up with him on the plains near Jericho. He was alone because all his men had all deserted him and had scattered. BSB BSB: but the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and his whole army deserted him.
9 ARST The soldiers of Babylonia took him to the king of Babylon, who was at Riblah in the region of Hamath. There the king of Babylon told his soldiers what they should do to punish Zedekiah. BSB BSB: The Chaldeans seized the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced judgment on Zedekiah.
10 ARST They forced Zedekiah to watch while they killed his sons and all the officials from Judah. BSB BSB: There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also killed all the officials of Judah.
11 ARST Then they gouged out Zedekiah’ s eyes. They fastened him with bronze chains and took him to Babylon. They put him in a prison, and he remained there until the day that he died. BSB BSB: Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon, where he kept him in custody until his dying day.
12 ARST On the tenth day of the fifth month of that year, which was when King Nebuchadnezzar had been ruling for almost nineteen years, Nebuzaradan, who was the captain of the king’ s bodyguards and one of the king’ s officials, arrived in Jerusalem. BSB BSB: On the tenth day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign over Babylon, Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem.
13 ARST He commanded his soldiers to burn down the temple of Yahweh, the king’ s palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem. They also destroyed 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.
14 ARST Then he supervised the soldiers from Babylonia while they tore down the walls on all sides of Jerusalem. BSB BSB: And the whole army of the Chaldeans under the captain of the guard broke down all the walls around Jerusalem.
15 ARST Then Nebuzaradan forced to go to Babylon some of the poorest people, those Israelites who had said they would support the king of Babylon, the rest of the craftsmen, and other people who had remained in Jerusalem. BSB BSB: Then Nebuzaradan captain of the guard carried into exile some of the poorest people and those who remained in the city, along with the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon and the rest of the craftsmen.
16 ARST But Nebuzaradan allowed some of the very poor people to remain in Judah to take care of the vineyards and fields. BSB BSB: But Nebuzaradan captain of the guard left behind some of the poorest of the land to tend the vineyards and fields.
17 ARST The soldiers from Babylonia broke into pieces the huge bronze pillars that were in front of the temple, and the large bronze water tank called“The Sea,” and the ten bronze water carts, 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 all the bronze to Babylon.
18 ARST They also took away the basins for holding the ashes from the burned sacrifices, the shovels for cleaning out the ashes, the tools for snuffing out the wicks of the lamps, the basins for holding the blood of the sacrificed animals, the dishes for incense, and all the other bronze items that were used when they made sacrifices at the temple. BSB BSB: They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes, and all the articles of bronze used in the temple service.
19 ARST Nebuzaradan also told his soldiers to take away the small bowls, the dishes for burning incense, the basins, pots, lampstands, bowls for incense, and the bowls used for pouring out the wine offerings. They took all the other items that were made of pure gold or silver. BSB BSB: The captain of the guard also took away the basins, censers, sprinkling bowls, pots, lampstands, pans, and drink offering bowls—anything made of pure gold or fine silver.
20 ARST The bronze from the two pillars, the large water tank called“The Sea” and the twelve statues of oxen that were beneath it, and the water carts, was more than they could weigh. Those things had been made for the temple during the time that Solomon was the king. BSB BSB: As for the two pillars, the Sea, the twelve bronze bulls under it, and the movable stands that King Solomon had made for the house of the LORD, the weight of the bronze from all these articles was beyond measure.
21 ARST Each of the pillars was 27 feet tall and 18 feet around. They were hollow, and each had sides that were 3 inches thick. BSB BSB: Each pillar was eighteen cubits tall and twelve cubits in circumference; each was hollow, four fingers thick.
22 ARST The bronze head on the top of each pillar was seven and one- half feet high and was decorated all around with a bronze network of figures that represented pomegranates. BSB BSB: The bronze capital atop one pillar was five cubits high, with a network of bronze pomegranates all around. The second pillar, with its pomegranates, was similar.
23 ARST There was a total of one hundred figures of pomegranates on the network at the top, 96 of which could be seen from the ground. BSB BSB: Each capital had ninety-six pomegranates on the sides, and a total of a hundred pomegranates were above the surrounding network.
24 ARST When Nebuzaradan returned to Babylon, he took with him as prisoners Seraiah the high priest, Zephaniah who was Seraiah’ s deputy, and the three men who guarded the entrances 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.
25 ARST He found some other people who were hiding in the city. So from them he took a commander of the army of Judah, seven of the king’ s advisors, the army commander’ s chief secretary who was in charge of recruiting soldiers for the army, and sixty other soldiers. 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 seven trusted royal advisers. 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.
26 ARST Nebuzaradan took them all to the king of Babylon, who was still at Riblah. BSB BSB: Nebuzaradan captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
27 ARST There at Riblah in the Hamath region, the king of Babylon commanded that they all be executed. Many of the people of Judah were forced to leave their own land. 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.
28 ARST The number of people who were captured and sent to Babylon at that time, when Nebuchadnezzar had been ruling for almost seven years, was 3, 023. BSB BSB: These are the people Nebuchadnezzar carried away: in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews;
29 ARST Then, when he had been ruling for almost eighteen years, his soldiers took 832 more from Jerusalem to Babylonia. BSB BSB: in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year, 832 people from Jerusalem;
30 ARST When he had been ruling almost twenty- three years, he sent Nebuzaradan to Jerusalem again, and he brought back 745 more Israelites to Babylonia. That was a total of 4, 600 Israelites who were taken to Babylonia. BSB BSB: in Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year, Nebuzaradan captain of the guard carried away 745 Jews. So in all, 4,600 people were taken away.
32 ARST He always spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and gave him a position in which he was honored more than all the other kings who had been exiled 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.
33 ARST He supplied new clothes for Jehoiachin, to replace the clothes that he had been wearing in prison. He also allowed Jehoiachin to eat with him every day, all during 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.
34 ARST Every day, the king of Babylon gave him some money to buy the things that he needed. That continued until the day that Jehoiachin died. BSB BSB: And the king of Babylon provided Jehoiachin a daily portion for the rest of his life, until the day of his death.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.