Jerusalem Destroyed

⁸ On^(A) the seventh day of the fifth month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, a servant of the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem.^{(B) 9} He burned the Lord’s temple,^(C) the king’s palace,^(D) and all the houses of Jerusalem; he burned down^(E) all the great houses. ¹⁰ The whole Chaldean army with the commander of the guards tore down the walls^(F) surrounding Jerusalem. ¹¹ Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, deported the rest of the people who were left in the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the population.^{(G) 12} But the commander of the guards left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and farmers.^(H)

¹³ Now^(I) the Chaldeans broke into pieces the bronze pillars^(J) of the Lord’s temple, the water carts, and the bronze reservoir,^(K) which were in the Lord’s temple, and carried the bronze to Babylon.^{(L) 14} They also took the pots, the shovels, the wick trimmers, the dishes, and all the bronze articles used in temple service.^{(M) 15} The commander of the guards took away the firepans and the sprinkling basins—whatever was gold or silver.^(N)

¹⁶ As for the two pillars, the one reservoir, and the water carts that Solomon had made for the Lord’s temple, the weight of the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure.^{(O) 17} One pillar was 27 feet^[a] tall and had a bronze capital on top of it. The capital, encircled by a grating and pomegranates of bronze, stood five feet^[b] high. The second pillar was the same, with its own grating.^(P)

¹⁸ The commander of the guards^(Q) also took away Seraiah^(R) the chief priest, Zephaniah^(S) the priest of the second rank, and the three doorkeepers. ¹⁹ He took a court official who had been appointed over the warriors from the city; five trusted royal aides^[c](T) found in the city; the secretary of the commander of the army, who enlisted the people of the land for military duty; and 60 men from the common people^[d] who were found within the city. ²⁰ Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.^(U)

¹² On the tenth day of the fifth month—which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, entered Jerusalem as the representative of^[a] the king of Babylon. ¹³ He burned the Lord’s temple, the king’s palace, all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the nobles. ¹⁴ The whole Chaldean army with the commander of the guards tore down all the walls surrounding Jerusalem.^{(A) 15} Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, deported some of the poorest of the people, as well as the rest of the people who were left in the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen. ¹⁶ But some of the poorest people of the land Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, left to be vinedressers and farmers.^(B)

¹⁷ Now the Chaldeans broke into pieces the bronze pillars for the Lord’s temple and the water carts and the bronze reservoir that were in the Lord’s temple,^(C) and carried all the bronze to Babylon. ¹⁸ They took the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling basins, dishes, and all the bronze articles used in the temple service. ¹⁹ The commander of the guards took away the bowls, firepans, sprinkling basins, pots, lampstands, pans, and drink offering bowls^(D)—whatever was gold or silver.

²⁰ As for the two pillars, the one reservoir, and the 12 bronze bulls under the water carts that King Solomon had made for the Lord’s temple, the weight of the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure. ²¹ One pillar was 27 feet^[b] tall, had a circumference of 18 feet,^[c] was hollow—four fingers thick— ²² and had a bronze capital on top of it.^(E) One capital, encircled by bronze latticework and pomegranates, stood 7½ feet^[d] high. The second pillar was the same, with pomegranates. ²³ Each capital had 96 pomegranates all around it. All the pomegranates around the latticework numbered 100.

²⁴ The commander of the guards also took away Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest of the second rank, and the three doorkeepers. ²⁵ From the city he took a court official who had been appointed over the warriors; seven trusted royal aides^[e] found in the city; the secretary of the commander of the army, who enlisted the people of the land for military duty; and 60 men from the common people who were found within the city. ²⁶ Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ²⁷ The king of Babylon put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah went into exile from its land.^(F)

²⁸ These are the people Nebuchadnezzar deported:^(G) in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews; ²⁹ in his eighteenth year,^[f] 832 people from Jerusalem; ³⁰ in Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year, Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, deported 745 Jews. All together 4,600 people were deported.

¹⁴ Then Daniel responded with tact and discretion to Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard,^[a](A) who had gone out to execute the wise men of Babylon.