‘Some of your very own descendants whom you father ¹  will be taken away and will be made eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”

At that time the generals ¹  of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon marched to Jerusalem and besieged the city. ² 

King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to the city while his generals were besieging it.

The king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s ¹  uncle, king in Jehoiachin’s place. He renamed him Zedekiah.

They captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, ¹  where he ²  passed sentence on him.

Nebuzaradan, captain of the royal guard, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

The king of Babylon ordered them to be executed ¹  at Riblah in the territory ²  of Hamath. So Judah was deported from its land.

King Jehoiachin of Judah, along with his mother, his servants, his officials, and his eunuchs surrendered ¹  to the king of Babylon. The king of Babylon, in the eighth year of his reign, ²  took Jehoiachin ³  prisoner.

On the seventh ¹  day of the fifth month, ²  in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard ³  who served the king of Babylon, arrived in Jerusalem. ⁴ 

The people from Babylon made Succoth Benoth, ¹  the people from Cuth made Nergal, ²  the people from Hamath made Ashima, ³ 

At that time Merodach-Baladan ¹  son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah was ill.

During Jehoiakim’s reign, ¹  King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked. ²  Jehoiakim was his subject for three years, but then he rebelled against him. ³ 

The king of Babylon deported to Babylon all the soldiers (there were 7,000), as well as 1,000 craftsmen and metal workers. This included all the best warriors. ¹ 

What follows is a record of what happened to Jerusalem and Judah because of the Lord’s anger; he finally threw them out of his presence. ¹  Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

Zedekiah’s sons were executed while Zedekiah was forced to watch. ¹  The king of Babylon ²  then had Zedekiah’s eyes put out, bound him in bronze chains, and carried him off to Babylon.

Now King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, as governor over the people whom he allowed to remain in the land of Judah. ¹ 

Gedaliah took an oath so as to give them and their troops some assurance of safety. ¹  He said, “You don’t need to be afraid to submit to the Babylonian officials. Settle down in the land and submit to the king of Babylon. Then things will go well for you.”

The king of Egypt did not march out from his land again, for the king of Babylon conquered all the territory that the king of Egypt had formerly controlled between the Brook of Egypt and the Euphrates River.

So King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and set up camp outside ¹  it. They built siege ramps all around it. He arrived on the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign. ² 

Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, deported the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen. ¹