| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 1Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah. | 1Zedekiah 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. |
| 2But Zedekiah did what was evil in the LORD’s sight, just as Jehoiakim had done. | 2And Zedekiah did evil in the sight of the LORD, just as Jehoiakim had done. |
| 3These things happened because of the LORD’s anger against the people of Jerusalem and Judah, until he finally banished them from his presence and sent them into exile. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. | 3For 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. |
| 4So on January 15, during the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon led his entire army against Jerusalem. They surrounded the city and built siege ramps against its walls. | 4So 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. |
| 5Jerusalem was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah’s reign. | 5And the city was kept under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year. |
| 6By July 18 in the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s reign, the famine in the city had become very severe, and the last of the food was entirely gone. | 6By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that the people of the land had no food. |
| 7Then a section of the city wall was broken down, and all the soldiers fled. Since the city was surrounded by the Babylonians, they waited for nightfall. Then they slipped through the gate between the two walls behind the king’s garden and headed toward the Jordan Valley. | 7Then 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, |
| 8But the Babylonian troops chased King Zedekiah and overtook him on the plains of Jericho, for his men had all deserted him and scattered. | 8but the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was separated from him. |
| 9They captured the king and took him to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath. There the king of Babylon pronounced judgment upon Zedekiah. | 9The 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. |
| 10The king of Babylon made Zedekiah watch as he slaughtered his sons. He also slaughtered all the officials of Judah at Riblah. | 10There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also killed all the officials of Judah. |
| 11Then he gouged out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him in bronze chains, and the king of Babylon led him away to Babylon. Zedekiah remained there in prison until the day of his death. The Temple Destroyed | 11Then 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. |
| 12On August 17 of that year, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard and an official of the Babylonian king, arrived in Jerusalem. | 12On 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. |
| 13He burned down the Temple of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He destroyed all the important buildings in the city. | 13He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building. |
| 14Then he supervised the entire Babylonian army as they tore down the walls of Jerusalem on every side. | 14And the whole army of the Chaldeans under the captain of the guard broke down all the walls around Jerusalem. |
| 15Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took as exiles some of the poorest of the people, the rest of the people who remained in the city, the defectors who had declared their allegiance to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen. | 15Then 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. |
| 16But Nebuzaradan allowed some of the poorest people to stay behind to care for the vineyards and fields. | 16But Nebuzaradan captain of the guard left behind some of the poorest of the land to tend the vineyards and fields. |
| 17The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars in front of the LORD’s Temple, the bronze water carts, and the great bronze basin called the Sea, and they carried all the bronze away to Babylon. | 17Moreover, 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. |
| 18They also took all the ash buckets, shovels, lamp snuffers, basins, dishes, and all the other bronze articles used for making sacrifices at the Temple. | 18They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes, and all the articles of bronze used in the temple service. |
| 19The captain of the guard also took the small bowls, incense burners, basins, pots, lampstands, ladles, bowls used for liquid offerings, and all the other articles made of pure gold or silver. | 19The 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. |
| 20The weight of the bronze from the two pillars, the Sea with the twelve bronze oxen beneath it, and the water carts was too great to be measured. These things had been made for the LORD’s Temple in the days of King Solomon. | 20As 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. |
| 21Each of the pillars was 27 feet tall and 18 feet in circumference. They were hollow, with walls 3 inches thick. | 21Each pillar was eighteen cubits tall and twelve cubits in circumference; each was hollow, four fingers thick. |
| 22The bronze capital on top of each pillar was 7 1/2 feet high and was decorated with a network of bronze pomegranates all the way around. | 22The 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. |
| 23There were 96 pomegranates on the sides, and a total of 100 pomegranates on the network around the top. | 23Each capital had ninety-six pomegranates on the sides, and a total of a hundred pomegranates were above the surrounding network. |
| 24Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took with him as prisoners Seraiah the high priest, Zephaniah the priest of the second rank, and the three chief gatekeepers. | 24The captain of the guard also took away Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest of second rank, and the three doorkeepers. |
| 25And from among the people still hiding in the city, he took an officer who had been in charge of the Judean army; seven of the king’s personal advisers; the army commander’s chief secretary, who was in charge of recruitment; and sixty other citizens. | 25Of 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. |
| 26Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took them all to the king of Babylon at Riblah. | 26Nebuzaradan captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. |
| 27And there at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon had them all put to death. So the people of Judah were sent into exile from their land. | 27There 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. |
| 28The number of captives taken to Babylon in the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign was 3,023. | 28These are the people Nebuchadnezzar carried away: in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews; |
| 29Then in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year he took 832 more. | 29in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year, 832 people from Jerusalem; |
| 30In Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year he sent Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, who took 745 more—a total of 4,600 captives in all. Hope for Israel’s Royal Line | 30in Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year, Nebuzaradan captain of the guard carried away 745 Jews. So in all, 4,600 people were taken away. |
| 31In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, Evil-merodach ascended to the Babylonian throne. He was kind to Jehoiachin and released him from prison on March 31 of that year. | 31On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the first year of the reign of Evil-merodach king of Babylon, he pardoned Jehoiachin king of Judah and released him from prison. |
| 32He spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and gave him a higher place than all the other exiled kings in Babylon. | 32And he spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and set his throne above the thrones of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. |
| 33He supplied Jehoiachin with new clothes to replace his prison garb and allowed him to dine in the king’s presence for the rest of his life. | 33So Jehoiachin changed out of his prison clothes, and he dined regularly at the king’s table for the rest of his life. |
| 34So the Babylonian king gave him a regular food allowance as long as he lived. This continued until the day of his death. | 34And the king of Babylon provided Jehoiachin a daily portion for the rest of his life, until the day of his death. |
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