Jerusalem Destroyed

⁸ On^(A) the seventh day of the fifth month—which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the captain 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 captain of the guards tore down the walls^(F) surrounding Jerusalem. ¹¹ Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, deported the rest of the people who remained in the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the population.^{(G) 12} But the captain 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 basin,^[a](K) which were in the Lord’s temple, and carried the bronze to Babylon.^{(L) 14} They also took the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes, and all the bronze articles used in the priests’ service.^{(M) 15} The captain of the guards took away the firepans and sprinkling basins—whatever was gold or silver.^(N)

¹⁶ As for the two pillars, the one basin, 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 twenty-seven feet^[b] tall and had a bronze capital on top of it. The capital, encircled by a grating and pomegranates of bronze, stood five feet^[c] high. The second pillar was the same, with its own grating.^(P)

¹⁸ The captain 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 From the city he took a court official^[d] who had been appointed over the warriors; five trusted royal aides^[e](T) found in the city; the secretary of the commander of the army, who enlisted the people of the land for military duty; and sixty men from the common people^[f] who were found within the city. ²⁰ Nebuzaradan, the captain 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 captain 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; he burned down all the great houses. ¹⁴ The whole Chaldean army with the captain of the guards tore down all the walls surrounding Jerusalem.^{(A) 15} Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, deported some of the poorest of the people, as well as the rest of the people who remained in the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen. ¹⁶ But Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, left some of the poorest of the land 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 basin^[b] that were in the Lord’s temple,^(C) and they carried all the bronze to Babylon. ¹⁸ They also took the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling basins, dishes, and all the bronze articles used in the temple service. ¹⁹ The captain 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 basin, with the twelve bronze oxen under it, and the water carts^[c] 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^[d] tall, had a circumference of 18 feet,^[e] was hollow—four fingers thick— ²² and had a bronze capital on top of it.^(E) One capital, encircled by bronze grating and pomegranates, stood 7½ feet^[f] high. The second pillar was the same, with pomegranates. ²³ Each capital had ninety-six pomegranates all around it. All the pomegranates around the grating numbered one hundred.

²⁴ The captain 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^[g] who had been appointed over the warriors; seven trusted royal aides^[h] found in the city; the secretary of the commander of the army, who enlisted the people of the land for military duty; and sixty men from the common people^[i] who were found within the city. ²⁶ Nebuzaradan, the captain 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,^[j] 832 people from Jerusalem; ³⁰ in Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, deported 745 Jews. Altogether, 4,600 people were deported.

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