² The Lord sent against him ^(A)bands of Chaldeans, ^(B)bands of Arameans, ^(C)bands of Moabites, and bands of Ammonites. So He sent them against Judah to destroy it, ^(D)according to the word of the Lord which He had spoken through His servants the prophets. ^3 (E)Surely at the ^[a]command of the Lord it came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight ^(F)because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done,

^12 (A)Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he and his mother and his servants and his captains and his officials. So ^(B)the king of Babylon took him captive in the eighth year of his reign. ^13 (C)He carried out from there all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king’s house, and ^(D)cut in pieces all the vessels of gold ^(E)which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, just as the Lord had said. ¹⁴ Then ^(F)he led away into exile all Jerusalem and all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, ^(G)ten thousand captives, and ^(H)all the craftsmen and the smiths. None remained ^(I)except the poorest people of the land.

¹⁵ So ^(J)he led Jehoiachin away into exile to Babylon; also the king’s mother and the king’s wives and his officials and the leading men of the land, he led away into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. ¹⁶ All the men of valor, ^(K)seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths, one thousand, all strong and fit for war, and these the king of Babylon brought into exile to Babylon.

²⁰ Those who had escaped from the sword he ^(A)carried away to Babylon; and ^(B)they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia,

Number of Those Returning

2 ^(A)Now these are the ^[a]people of the province who came up out of the captivity of the exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away to Babylon, and returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his city.

^6 (A)These are the ^[a]people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his city,

The Choice Young Men

1 In the third year of the reign of ^(A)Jehoiakim king of Judah, ^(B)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. ² The ^(C)Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the ^(D)vessels of the house of God; and he brought them to the land of ^(E)Shinar, to the house of his ^[a]god, and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his ^[b](F)god.

³ Then the king ^[c]ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his ^[d]officials, to bring in some of the sons of Israel, including some of the ^[e]royal ^(G)family and of the nobles,