1Tsiḏqiyahu was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Yerushalayim. And his mother’s name was Ḥamutal the daughter of Yirmeyahu of Liḇnah.

2And he did evil in the eyes of יהוה, according to all that Yehoyaqim had done.

3For through the displeasure of יהוה this came to be against Yerushalayim and Yehuḏah, until He had cast them out from His presence. And Tsiḏqiyahu rebelled against the sovereign of Baḇel.

4And it came to be in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, that Neḇuḵaḏretstsar sovereign of Baḇel and all his army came against Yerushalayim and encamped against it. And they built a siege wall against it all around.

5And the city was under siege until the eleventh year of Sovereign Tsiḏqiyahu.

6On the ninth of the fourth month the scarcity of food was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.

7Then the city wall was breached, and all the men of battle fled and went out of the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the sovereign’s garden, while the Chaldeans were near the city all around. And they went by way of the desert plain.

8But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the sovereign, and they overtook Tsiḏqiyahu in the desert plains of Yeriḥo, and his entire army was scattered from him.

9Then they captured the sovereign and brought him up to the sovereign of Baḇel at Riḇlah in the land of Ḥamath, and he pronounced judgments on him.

10And the sovereign of Baḇel slew the sons of Tsiḏqiyahu before his eyes, and he also slew all the heads of Yehuḏah in Riḇlah.

11And he put out the eyes of Tsiḏqiyahu. And the sovereign of Baḇel bound him in bronze shackles, and took him to Baḇel, and put him in prison till the day of his death.

12And on the tenth of the fifth month, which was the nineteenth year of sovereign Neḇuḵaḏretstsar sovereign of Baḇel, Neḇuzaraḏan, chief of the guard, who served the sovereign of Baḇel, came to Yerushalayim,

13and he burned the House of יהוה, and the sovereign’s house, and all the houses of Yerushalayim, and all the houses of the great men, he burned with fire.

14And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the chief of the guard broke down all the walls of Yerushalayim all around.

15And Neḇuzaraḏan, chief of the guard, exiled some of the poor people, and the rest of the people who were left in the city, and the defectors who had gone over to the sovereign of Baḇel, and the rest of the craftsmen.

16But Neḇuzaraḏan, chief of the guard, left some of the poor of the land as vinedressers and farmers.

17And the Chaldeans broke the bronze columns that were in the House of יהוה, and the stands and the bronze Sea that were in the House of יהוה, and brought all their bronze to Baḇel.

18They also took away the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the ladles, and all the bronze utensils with which they served,

19and the basins, and the fire holders, and the bowls, and the pots, and the lampstands, and the ladles, and the cups, whatever was of solid gold and whatever was of solid silver, the chief of the guard took.

20The two columns, one Sea, the twelve bronze bulls which were under it, and the stands, which Sovereign Shelomoh had made for the House of יהוה – the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weighing.

21As for the columns, the height of one column was eighteen cubits, and its circumference was twelve cubits, and its thickness was four fingers, hollow.

22And a capital of bronze was on it. And the height of one capital was five cubits, with a network and pomegranates all around the capital, all of bronze. And the second column, with pomegranates was the same.

23And there were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides. All the pomegranates on the network were one hundred, all around.

24And the chief of the guard took Serayah the chief priest, and Tsephanyah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers.

25And from the city he took one eunuch who was in charge of the men of battle, and seven men who saw the sovereign’s face, who were found in the city, and the scribe of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city.

26And Neḇuzaraḏan, chief of the guard, took these and brought them to the sovereign of Baḇel at Riḇlah,

27and the sovereign of Baḇel smote them and put them to death at Riḇlah in the land of Ḥamath. Thus Yehuḏah was exiled from its own land.

28These are the people whom Neḇuḵaḏretstsar exiled: in the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Yehuḏim;

29in the eighteenth year of Neḇuḵaḏretstsar he exiled from Yerushalayim eight hundred and thirty-two beings;

30in the twenty-third year of Neḇuḵaḏretstsar, Neḇuzaraḏan, chief of the guard, exiled of the Yehuḏim seven hundred and forty-five beings. All the beings were four thousand six hundred.

31And it came to be in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Yehoyaḵin sovereign of Yehuḏah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth of the month, that Ewil-Meroḏaḵ sovereign of Baḇel, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Yehoyaḵin sovereign of Yehuḏah and brought him out of prison,

32and spoke kindly to him and set his throne above those of the sovereigns who were with him in Baḇel.

33So he changed his prison garments, and he ate bread continually before the sovereign all the days of his life.

34And as for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him by the sovereign of Baḇel, a portion for each day until the day of his death, all the days of his life.