²⁷“But fear not, O Jacob my servant,

nor be dismayed, O Israel;

for behold, I will save you from afar,

and your offspring from the land of their captivity.

Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,

and none shall make him afraid.

²⁸Fear not, O Jacob my servant,

says the LORD,

for I am with you.

I will make a full end of all the nations

to which I have driven you,

but of you I will not make a full end.

I will chasten you in just measure,

and I will by no means leave you unpunished.”

²“Thus says the LORD:

Behold, waters are rising out of the north,

and shall become an overflowing torrent;

they shall overflow the land and all that fills it,

the city and those who dwell in it.

Men shall cry out,

and every inhabitant of the land shall wail.

³At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions,

at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of their wheels,

the fathers look not back to their children,

so feeble are their hands,

⁴because of the day that is coming to destroy

all the Philis'tines,

to cut off from Tyre and Si'don

every helper that remains.

For the LORD is destroying the Philistines,

the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.

⁵Baldness has come upon Gaza,

Ash'kelon has perished.

O remnant of the An'akim,^b

how long will you gash yourselves?

⁶Ah, sword of the LORD!

How long till you are quiet?

Put yourself into your scabbard,

rest and be still!

⁷How can it^c be quiet,

when the LORD has given it a charge?

Against Ash'kelon and against the seashore

he has appointed it.”

“Woe to Nebo, for it is laid waste!

Kir''iatha'im is put to shame, it is taken;

the fortress is put to shame and broken down;

² the renown of Moab is no more.

In Heshbon they planned evil against her:

‘Come, let us cut her off from being a nation!’

You also, O Madmen, shall be brought to silence;

the sword shall pursue you.

³“Listen! a cry from Horona'im,

‘Desolation and great destruction!’

⁴Moab is destroyed;

a cry is heard as far as Zoar.^d

⁵For at the ascent of Lu'hith

they go up weeping;^e

for at the descent of Horona'im

they have heard the cry^f of destruction.

⁶Flee! Save yourselves!

Be like a wild donkey^g in the desert!

⁷For, because you trusted in your strongholds^h and your treasures,

you also shall be taken;

and Che'mosh shall go forth into exile,

with his priests and his princes.

⁸The destroyer shall come upon every city,

and no city shall escape;

the valley shall perish,

and the plain shall be destroyed,

as the LORD has spoken.

⁹“Give wings to Moab,

for she would fly away;

her cities shall become a desolation,

with no inhabitant in them.

¹¹“Moab has been at ease from his youth

and has settled on his dregs;

he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,

nor has he gone into exile;

so his taste remains in him,

and his scent is not changed.

12 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I shall send to him tilters who will tilt him, and empty his vessels, and break hisⁱ jars in pieces. ¹³Then Moab shall be ashamed of Che'mosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.

¹⁴“How do you say, ‘We are heroes

and mighty men of war’?

¹⁵The destroyer of Moab and his cities has come up,

and the choicest of his young men have gone down to slaughter,

says the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.

¹⁶The calamity of Moab is near at hand

and his affliction hastens apace.

¹⁷Bemoan him, all you who are round about him,

and all who know his name;

say, ‘How the mighty scepter is broken,

the glorious staff.’

¹⁸“Come down from your glory,

and sit on the parched ground,

O inhabitant of Di'bon!

For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you;

he has destroyed your strongholds.

¹⁹Stand by the way and watch,

O inhabitant of Aro'er!

Ask him who flees and her who escapes;

say, ‘What has happened?’

²⁰Moab is put to shame, for it is broken;

wail and cry!

Tell it by the Arnon,

that Moab is laid waste.

26 “Make him drunk, because he magnified himself against the LORD; so that Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he too shall be held in derision. ²⁷Was not Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves, that whenever you spoke of him you wagged your head?

²⁸“Leave the cities, and dwell in the rock,

O inhabitants of Moab!

Be like the dove that nests

in the sides of the mouth of a gorge.

²⁹We have heard of the pride of Moab—

he is very proud—

of his loftiness, his pride, and his arrogance,

and the haughtiness of his heart.

³⁰I know his insolence, says the LORD;

his boasts are false,

his deeds are false.

³¹Therefore I wail for Moab;

I cry out for all Moab;

for the men of Kir-he'res I mourn.

³²More than for Ja'zer I weep for you,

O vine of Sibmah!

Your branches passed over the sea,

reached as far as Jazer,^j

upon your summer fruits and your vintage

the destroyer has fallen.

³³Gladness and joy have been taken away

from the fruitful land of Moab;

I have made the wine cease from the wine presses;

no one treads them with shouts of joy;

the shouting is not the shout of joy.

⁴⁰For thus says the LORD:

“Behold, one shall fly swiftly like an eagle,

and spread his wings against Moab;

⁴¹the cities shall be taken

and the strongholds seized.

The heart of the warriors of Moab shall be in that day

like the heart of a woman with her labor pains;

⁴²Moab shall be destroyed and be no longer a people,

because he magnified himself against the LORD.

⁴³Terror, pit, and snare

are before you, O inhabitant of Moab!

⁴⁴He who flees from the terror

shall fall into the pit,

and he who climbs out of the pit

shall be caught in the snare.

For I will bring these things^l upon Moab

in the year of their punishment,

says the LORD.

⁴⁵“In the shadow of Heshbon

fugitives stop without strength;

for a fire has gone forth from Heshbon,

a flame from the house of Si'hon;

it has destroyed the forehead of Moab,

the crown of the sons of tumult.

⁴⁶Woe to you, O Moab!

The people of Che'mosh is undone;

for your sons have been taken captive,

and your daughters into captivity.

⁴⁷Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab

in the latter days, says the LORD.”

Thus far is the judgment on Moab.

“Has Israel no sons?

Has he no heir?

Why then has Milcom dispossessed Gad,

and his people settled in its cities?

²Therefore, behold, the days are coming,

says the LORD,

when I will cause the battle cry to be heard

against Rabbah of the Am'monites;

it shall become a desolate mound,

and its villages shall be burned with fire;

then Israel shall dispossess those who dispossessed him,

says the LORD.

³“Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste!

Cry, O daughters of Rabbah!

Clothe yourselves with sackcloth,

lament, and run to and fro among the hedges!

For Milcom shall go into exile,

with his priests and his princes.

⁴Why do you boast of your valleys,^m

O faithless daughter,

who trusted in her treasures, saying,

‘Who will come against me?’

⁵Behold, I will bring terror upon you,

says the Lord GOD of hosts,

from all who are round about you,

and you shall be driven out, every man straight before him,

with none to gather the fugitives.

6 But afterward I will restore the fortunes of the Am'monites, says the LORD.”

7 Concerning E'dom.

Thus says the LORD of hosts:

“Is wisdom no more in Te'man?

Has counsel perished from the prudent?

Has their wisdom vanished?

⁸Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths,

O inhabitants of De'dan!

For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him,

the time when I punish him.

⁹If grape-gatherers came to you,

would they not leave gleanings?

If thieves came by night,

would they not destroy only enough for themselves?

¹⁰But I have stripped Esau bare,

I have uncovered his hiding places,

and he is not able to conceal himself.

His children are destroyed, and his brothers,

and his neighbors; and he is no more.

¹¹Leave your fatherless children, I will keep them alive;

and let your widows trust in me.”

12 For thus says the LORD: “If those who did not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, will you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, but you must drink. ¹³For I have sworn by myself, says the LORD, that Bozrah shall become a horror, a taunt, a waste, and a curse; and all her cities shall be perpetual wastes.”

¹⁴I have heard tidings from the LORD,

and a messenger has been sent among the nations:

“Gather yourselves together and come against her,

and rise up for battle!”

¹⁵For behold, I will make you small among the nations,

despised among men.

¹⁶The horror you inspire has deceived you,

and the pride of your heart,

you who live in the clefts of the rock,ⁿ

who hold the height of the hill.

Though you make your nest as high as the eagle’s,

I will bring you down from there,

says the LORD.

17 “E'dom shall become a horror; every one who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters. ¹⁸As when Sodom and Gomor'rah and their neighbor cities were overthrown, says the LORD, no man shall dwell there, no man shall sojourn in her. ¹⁹Behold, like a lion coming up from the jungle of the Jordan against a strong sheepfold, I will suddenly make them^o run away from her; and I will appoint over her whomever I choose. For who is like me? Who will summon me? What shepherd can stand before me? ²⁰Therefore hear the plan which the LORD has made against E'dom and the purposes which he has formed against the inhabitants of Te'man: Even the little ones of the flock shall be dragged away; surely their fold shall be appalled at their fate. ²¹At the sound of their fall the earth shall tremble; the sound of their cry shall be heard at the Red Sea. ²²Behold, one shall mount up and fly swiftly like an eagle, and spread his wings against Bozrah, and the heart of the warriors of E'dom shall be in that day like the heart of a woman with her labor pains.”

23 Concerning Damascus.

“Ha'math and Arpad are confounded,

for they have heard evil tidings;

they melt in fear, they are troubled like the sea^p

which cannot be quiet.

²⁴Damascus has become feeble, she turned to flee,

and panic seized her;

anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her,

as of a woman with labor pains.

²⁵How the famous city is forsaken,^q

the joyful city!^r

²⁶Therefore her young men shall fall in her squares,

and all her soldiers shall be destroyed in that day,

says the LORD of hosts.

²⁷And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus,

and it shall devour the strongholds of Benha'dad.”

28 Concerning Ke'dar and the kingdoms of Ha'zor which Nebuchadrez'zar king of Babylon struck.

Thus says the LORD:

“Rise up, advance against Kedar!

Destroy the people of the east!

²⁹Their tents and their flocks shall be taken,

their curtains and all their goods;

their camels shall be borne away from them,

and men shall cry to them: ‘Terror on every side!’

³⁰Flee, wander far away, dwell in the depths,

O inhabitants of Ha'zor!

says the LORD.

For Nebuchadrez'zar king of Babylon

has made a plan against you,

and formed a purpose against you.

³¹“Rise up, advance against a nation at ease,

that dwells securely,

says the LORD,

that has no gates or bars,

that dwells alone.

³²Their camels shall become booty,

their herds of cattle a spoil.

I will scatter to every wind

those who cut the corners of their hair,

and I will bring their calamity

from every side of them,

says the LORD.

³³Ha'zor shall become a haunt of jackals,

an everlasting waste;

no man shall dwell there,

no man shall sojourn in her.”

34 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremi'ah the prophet concerning E'lam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedeki'ah king of Judah.

35 Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Behold, I will break the bow of E'lam, the mainstay of their might; ³⁶and I will bring upon E'lam the four winds from the four quarters of heaven; and I will scatter them to all those winds, and there shall be no nation to which those driven out of Elam shall not come. ³⁷I will terrify E'lam before their enemies, and before those who seek their life; I will bring evil upon them, my fierce anger, says the LORD. I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them; ³⁸and I will set my throne in E'lam, and destroy their king and princes, says the LORD.

39 “But in the latter days I will restore the fortunes of E'lam, says the LORD.”

²“Declare among the nations and proclaim,

set up a banner and proclaim,

conceal it not, and say:

‘Babylon is taken,

Bel is put to shame,

Mer'odach is dismayed.

Her images are put to shame,

her idols are dismayed.’

3 “For out of the north a nation has come up against her, which shall make her land a desolation, and none shall dwell in it; both man and beast shall flee away.

¹¹“Though you rejoice, though you exult,

O plunderers of my heritage,

though you are wanton as a heifer at grass,

and neigh like stallions,

¹²your mother shall be utterly shamed,

and she who bore you shall be disgraced.

Behold, she shall be the last of the nations,

a wilderness dry and desert.

¹³Because of the wrath of the LORD she shall not be inhabited,

but shall be an utter desolation;

every one who passes by Babylon shall be appalled,

and hiss because of all her wounds.

¹⁴Set yourselves in array against Babylon round about,

all you that bend the bow;

shoot at her, spare no arrows,

for she has sinned against the LORD.

¹⁵Raise a shout against her round about,

she has surrendered;

her bulwarks have fallen,

her walls are thrown down.

For this is the vengeance of the LORD:

take vengeance on her,

do to her as she has done.

¹⁶Cut off from Babylon the sower,

and the one who handles the sickle in time of harvest;

because of the sword of the oppressor,

every one shall turn to his own people,

and every one shall flee to his own land.

²¹“Go up against the land of Meratha'im,^s

and against the inhabitants of Pe'kod.^t

Slay, and utterly destroy after them, says the LORD,

and do all that I have commanded you.

²²The noise of battle is in the land,

and great destruction!

²³How the hammer of the whole earth

is cut down and broken!

How Babylon has become

a horror among the nations!

²⁴I set a snare for you and you were taken, O Babylon,

and you did not know it;

you were found and caught,

because you strove against the LORD.

²⁵The LORD has opened his armory,

and brought out the weapons of his wrath,

for the Lord GOD of hosts has a work to do

in the land of the Chalde'ans.

²⁶Come against her from every quarter;

open her granaries;

pile her up like heaps of grain, and destroy her utterly;

let nothing be left of her.

²⁷Slay all her bulls,

let them go down to the slaughter.

Woe to them, for their day has come,

the time of their punishment.

³¹“Behold, I am against you, O proud one,

says the Lord GOD of hosts;

for your day has come,

the time when I will punish you.

³²The proud one shall stumble and fall,

with none to raise him up,

and I will kindle a fire in his cities,

and it will devour all that is round about him.

³⁵“A sword upon the Chalde'ans, says the LORD,

and upon the inhabitants of Babylon,

and upon her princes and her wise men!

³⁶A sword upon the diviners,

that they may become fools!

A sword upon her warriors,

that they may be destroyed!

³⁷A sword upon her horses and upon her chariots,

and upon all the foreign troops in her midst,

that they may become women!

A sword upon all her treasures,

that they may be plundered!

³⁸A drought upon her waters,

that they may be dried up!

For it is a land of images,

and they are mad over idols.

⁴¹“Behold, a people comes from the north;

a mighty nation and many kings

are stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.

⁴²They lay hold of bow and spear;

they are cruel, and have no mercy.

The sound of them is like the roaring of the sea;

they ride upon horses,

clothed as a man for battle

against you, O daughter of Babylon!

⁴³“The king of Babylon heard the report of them,

and his hands fell helpless;

anguish seized him,

pain as of a woman in labor.

Behold, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer against Babylon,

against the inhabitants of Chalde'a;^u

²and I will send to Babylon winnowers,

and they shall winnow her,

and they shall empty her land,

when they come against her from every side

on the day of trouble.

³Let not the archer bend his bow,

and let him not stand up in his coat of mail.

Spare not her young men;

utterly destroy all her host.

⁴They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chalde'ans,

and wounded in her streets.

⁵For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken

by their God, the LORD of hosts;

but the land of the Chalde'ans^v is full of guilt

against the Holy One of Israel.

⁶“Flee from the midst of Babylon,

let every man save his life!

Be not cut off in her punishment,

for this is the time of the LORD’s vengeance,

the repayment he is rendering her.

⁷Babylon was a golden cup in the LORD’s hand,

making all the earth drunken;

the nations drank of her wine,

therefore the nations went mad.

⁸Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken;

wail for her!

Take balm for her pain;

perhaps she may be healed.

⁹We would have healed Babylon,

but she was not healed.

Forsake her, and let us go

each to his own country;

for her judgment has reached up to heaven

and has been lifted up even to the skies.

¹⁰The LORD has brought forth our vindication;

come, let us declare in Zion

the work of the LORD our God.

¹¹“Sharpen the arrows!

Take up the shields!

¹²Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon;

make the watch strong;

set up watchmen;

prepare the ambushes;

for the LORD has both planned and done

what he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.

¹³O you who dwell by many waters,

rich in treasures,

your end has come,

the thread of your life is cut.

¹⁴The LORD of hosts has sworn by himself:

Surely I will fill you with men, as many as locusts,

and they shall raise the shout of victory over you.

¹⁵“It is he who made the earth by his power,

who established the world by his wisdom,

and by his understanding

stretched out the heavens.

¹⁶When he utters his voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,

and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.

He makes lightning for the rain,

and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.

¹⁷Every man is stupid and without knowledge;

every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols;

for his images are false,

and there is no breath in them.

¹⁸They are worthless, a work of delusion;

at the time of their punishment they shall perish.

¹⁹Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob,

for he is the one who formed all things,

and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;

the LORD of hosts is his name.

²⁰“You are my hammer and weapon of war:

with you I break nations in pieces;

with you I destroy kingdoms;

²¹with you I break in pieces the horse and his rider;

with you I break in pieces the chariot and the charioteer;

²²with you I break in pieces man and woman;

with you I break in pieces the old man and the youth;

with you I break in pieces the young man and the maiden;

²³ with you I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock;

with you I break in pieces the farmer and his team;

with you I break in pieces governors and commanders.

24 “I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chalde'a before your very eyes for all the evil that they have done in Zion, says the LORD.

²⁵“Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain,

says the LORD,

which destroys the whole earth;

I will stretch out my hand against you,

and roll you down from the crags,

and make you a burnt mountain.

²⁶No stone shall be taken from you for a corner

and no stone for a foundation,

but you shall be a perpetual waste,

says the LORD.

²⁷“Set up a standard on the earth,

blow the trumpet among the nations;

prepare the nations for war against her,

summon against her the kingdoms,

Ar'arat, Minni, and Ash'kenaz;

appoint a marshal against her,

bring up horses like bristling locusts.

²⁸Prepare the nations for war against her,

the kings of the Medes, with their governors and deputies,

and every land under their dominion.

²⁹The land trembles and writhes in pain,

for the LORD’s purposes against Babylon stand,

to make the land of Babylon a desolation,

without inhabitant.

³⁰The warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting,

they remain in their strongholds;

their strength has failed,

they have become women;

her dwellings are on fire,

her bars are broken.

³¹One runner runs to meet another,

and one messenger to meet another,

to tell the king of Babylon

that his city is taken on every side;

³²the fords have been seized,

the bulwarks are burned with fire,

and the soldiers are in panic.

³³For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel:

The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor

at the time when it is trodden;

yet a little while

and the time of her harvest will come.”

³⁴“Nebuchadrez'zar the king of Babylon has devoured me,

he has crushed me;

he has made me an empty vessel,

he has swallowed me like a monster;

he has filled his belly with my delicacies,

he has rinsed me out.

³⁵The violence done to me and to my kinsmen be upon Babylon,”

let the inhabitant of Zion say.

“My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chalde'a,”

let Jerusalem say.

³⁶Therefore thus says the LORD:

“Behold, I will plead your cause

and take vengeance for you.

I will dry up her sea

and make her fountain dry;

³⁷and Babylon shall become a heap of ruins,

the haunt of jackals,

a horror and a hissing,

without inhabitant.

³⁸“They shall roar together like lions;

they shall growl like lions’ whelps.

³⁹While they are inflamed I will prepare them a feast

and make them drunk, till they swoon away^w

and sleep a perpetual sleep

and not wake, says the LORD.

⁴⁰I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,

like rams and he-goats.

⁴¹“How Babylon^x is taken,

the praise of the whole earth seized!

How Babylon has become

a horror among the nations!

⁴²The sea has come up on Babylon;

she is covered with its tumultuous waves.

⁴³Her cities have become a horror,

a land of drought and a desert,

a land in which no one dwells,

and through which no son of man passes.

⁴⁴And I will punish Bel in Babylon,

and take out of his mouth what he has swallowed.

The nations shall no longer flow to him;

the wall of Babylon has fallen.

⁴⁵“Go out of the midst of her, my people!

Let every man save his life

from the fierce anger of the LORD!

⁴⁶Let not your heart faint, and be not fearful

at the report heard in the land,

when a report comes in one year

and afterward a report in another year,

and violence is in the land,

and ruler is against ruler.

⁴⁷“Therefore, behold, the days are coming

when I will punish the images of Babylon;

her whole land shall be put to shame,

and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.

⁴⁸Then the heavens and the earth,

and all that is in them,

shall sing for joy over Babylon;

for the destroyers shall come against them out of the north,

says the LORD.

⁴⁹Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel,

as for Babylon have fallen the slain of all the earth.

⁵⁰“You that have escaped from the sword,

go, stand not still!

Remember the LORD from afar,

and let Jerusalem come into your mind:

⁵¹‘We are put to shame, for we have heard reproach;

dishonor has covered our face,

for aliens have come

into the holy places of the LORD’s house.’

⁵²“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the LORD,

when I will execute judgment upon her images,

and through all her land

the wounded shall groan.

⁵³Though Babylon should mount up to heaven,

and though she should fortify her strong height,

yet destroyers would come from me upon her,

says the LORD.

⁵⁴“Listen! a cry from Babylon!

The noise of great destruction from the land of the Chalde'ans!

⁵⁵For the LORD is laying Babylon waste,

and stilling her mighty voice.

Their waves roar like many waters,

the noise of their voice is raised;

⁵⁶for a destroyer has come upon her,

upon Babylon;

her warriors are taken,

their bows are broken in pieces;

for the LORD is a God of recompense,

he will surely repay.

⁵⁷I will make drunk her princes and her wise men,

her governors, her commanders, and her warriors;

they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake,

says the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.

⁵⁸“Thus says the LORD of hosts:

The broad wall of Babylon

shall be leveled to the ground

and her high gates

shall be burned with fire.

The peoples labor for nothing,

and the nations weary themselves only for fire.”

59 The word which Jeremi'ah the prophet commanded Serai'ah the son of Neri'ah, son of Mahsei'ah, when he went with Zedeki'ah king of Judah to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster. ⁶⁰Jeremi'ah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, all these words that are written concerning Babylon. ⁶¹And Jeremi'ah said to Serai'ah: “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, ⁶²and say, ‘O LORD, you have said concerning this place that you will cut it off, so that nothing shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast, and it shall be desolate for ever.’ ⁶³When you finish reading this book, bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphra'tes, ⁶⁴and say, ‘Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the evil that I am bringing upon her.’”^y

Thus far are the words of Jeremi'ah.

And Zedeki'ah rebelled against the king of Babylon. ⁴And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadrez'zar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem, and they laid siege to it and built siegeworks against it round about. ⁵So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedeki'ah. ⁶On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city, that there was no food for the people of the land. ⁷Then a breach was made in the city; and all the men of war fled and went out from the city by night by the way of a gate between the two walls, by the king’s garden, while the Chalde'ans were round about the city. And they went in the direction of the Ar'abah. ⁸But the army of the Chalde'ans pursued the king, and overtook Zedeki'ah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him. ⁹Then they captured the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Ha'math, and he passed sentence upon him. ¹⁰The king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedeki'ah before his eyes, and also slew all the princes of Judah at Riblah. ¹¹He put out the eyes of Zedeki'ah, and bound him in chains, and the king of Babylon took him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.

12 In the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month—which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadrez'zar, king of Babylon—Nebu'zarad'an the captain of the bodyguard who served the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem. ¹³And he burned the house of the LORD, and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. ¹⁴And all the army of the Chalde'ans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls round about Jerusalem. ¹⁵And Nebu'zarad'an the captain of the guard carried away captive some of the poorest of the people and the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the artisans. ¹⁶But Nebu'zarad'an the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.

17 And the pillars of bronze that were in the house of the LORD, and the stands and the bronze sea that were in the house of the LORD, the Chalde'ans broke in pieces, and carried all the bronze to Babylon. ¹⁸And they took away the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the basins, and the dishes for incense, and all the vessels of bronze used in the temple service; ¹⁹also the small bowls, and the firepans, and the basins, and the pots, and the lampstands, and the dishes for incense, and the bowls for libation. What was of gold the captain of the guard took away as gold, and what was of silver, as silver. ²⁰As for the two pillars, the one sea, the twelve bronze bulls which were under the sea,^z and the stands, which Solomon the king had made for the house of the LORD, the bronze of all these things was beyond weight. ²¹As for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, its circumference was twelve cubits, and its thickness was four fingers, and it was hollow. ²²Upon it was a capital of bronze; the height of the one capital was five cubits; a network and pomegranates, all of bronze, were upon the capital round about. And the second pillar had the like, with pomegranates. ²³There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates were a hundred upon the network round about.

24 And the captain of the guard took Serai'ah the chief priest, and Zephani'ah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold; ²⁵and from the city he took an officer who had been in command of the men of war, and seven men of the king’s council, who were found in the city; and the secretary of the commander 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. ²⁶And Nebu'zarad'an the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ²⁷And the king of Babylon struck them, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Ha'math. So Judah was carried captive out of its land.

28 This is the number of the people whom Nebuchadrez'zar carried away captive: in the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Jews; ²⁹in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrez'zar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred and thirty-two persons; ³⁰in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadrez'zar, Nebu'zarad'an the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred and forty-five persons; all the persons were four thousand and six hundred.

31 And in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoi'achin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, E'vil-mer'odach king of Babylon, in the year that he became king, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison; ³²and he spoke kindly to him, and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon. ³³So Jehoi'achin put off his prison garments. And every day of his life he dined regularly at the king’s table; ³⁴as for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king according to his daily need, until the day of his death as long as he lived.