Judah Overrun by Enemies

24 In ^(A)his days Nebuchadnezzar king of ^(B)Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him.

^2 (A)And the Lord sent against him raiding ^[a]bands of Chaldeans, bands of Syrians, bands of Moabites, and bands of the people of Ammon; He sent them against Judah to destroy it, ^(B)according to the word of the Lord which He had spoken by His servants the prophets.

The Reign and Captivity of Jehoiakim^(A)

^5 (B)Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And he did ^(C)evil in the sight of the Lord his God. ^6 (D)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him, and bound him in ^[a]bronze fetters to ^(E)carry him off to Babylon. ^7 (F)Nebuchadnezzar also carried off some of the articles from the house of the Lord to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon.

Seventy Years of Desolation

25 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, ^(A)in the fourth year of ^(B)Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),

The Temple and City Plundered and Burned

^12 (A)Now in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month (^(B)which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), ^(C)Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. ¹³ He burned the house of the Lord and the king’s house; all the houses of Jerusalem, that is, all the houses of the great, he burned with fire. ¹⁴ And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around. ^15 (D)Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive some of the poor people, the rest of the people who remained in the city, the defectors who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen. ¹⁶ But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poor of the land as vinedressers and farmers.

^17 (E)The ^(F)bronze pillars that were in the house of the Lord, and the carts and the bronze Sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried all their bronze to Babylon. ¹⁸ They also took away ^(G)the pots, the shovels, the trimmers, the ^[a]bowls, the spoons, and all the bronze utensils with which the priests ministered. ¹⁹ The basins, the firepans, the bowls, the pots, the lampstands, the spoons, and the cups, whatever was solid gold and whatever was solid silver, the captain of the guard took away. ²⁰ The two pillars, one Sea, the twelve bronze bulls which were under it, and the carts, which King Solomon had made for the house of the Lord—^(H)the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure. ²¹ Now concerning the ^(I)pillars: the height of one pillar was eighteen ^[b]cubits, a measuring line of twelve cubits could measure its circumference, and its thickness was ^[c]four fingers; it was hollow. ²² 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. The second pillar, with pomegranates was the same. ²³ There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; ^(J)all the pomegranates, all around on the network, were one hundred.

The People Taken Captive to Babylonia

^24 (K)The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, ^(L)Zephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers. ²⁵ He also took out of the city an ^[d]officer who had charge of the men of war, seven men of the king’s close associates who were found in the city, the principal scribe of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city. ²⁶ And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took these and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ²⁷ Then the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive from its own land.

^28 (M)These are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: ^(N)in the seventh year, ^(O)three thousand and twenty-three Jews; ^29 (P)in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred and thirty-two persons; ³⁰ in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred and forty-five persons. All the persons were four thousand six hundred.