2 Kings 25 :: New International Version (NIV)

(2Ch 36:15–21; Jer 52:4–30 )

2Ki 25:1So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army. He encamped outside the city and built siege works all around it.

2Ki 25:2

2Ki 25:2The city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

2Ki 25:3

2Ki 25:3By the ninth day of the fourth[fn] month the famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat.

2Ki 25:4

2Ki 25:4Then the city wall was broken through, and the whole army fled at night through the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, though the Babylonians[fn] were surrounding the city. They fled toward the Arabah,[fn]

2Ki 25:5

2Ki 25:5but the Babylonian[fn] army pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered,

2Ki 25:6

2Ki 25:6and he was captured. He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where sentence was pronounced on him.

2Ki 25:7

2Ki 25:7They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.

2Ki 25:8

2Ki 25:8On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, an official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.

2Ki 25:9

2Ki 25:9He set fire to the temple of the LORD, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down.

2Ki 25:10

2Ki 25:10The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the imperial guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem.

2Ki 25:11

2Ki 25:11Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile the people who remained in the city, along with the rest of the populace and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon.

2Ki 25:12

2Ki 25:12But the commander left behind some of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.

2Ki 25:13

2Ki 25:13The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the movable stands and the bronze Sea that were at the temple of the LORD and they carried the bronze to Babylon.

2Ki 25:14

2Ki 25:14They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes and all the bronze articles used in the temple service.

2Ki 25:15

2Ki 25:15The commander of the imperial guard took away the censers and sprinkling bowls—all that were made of pure gold or silver.

2Ki 25:16

2Ki 25:16The bronze from the two pillars, the Sea and the movable stands, which Solomon had made for the temple of the LORD, was more than could be weighed.

2Ki 25:17

2Ki 25:17Each pillar was eighteen cubits[fn] high. The bronze capital on top of one pillar was three cubits[fn] high and was decorated with a network and pomegranates of bronze all around. The other pillar, with its network, was similar.

2Ki 25:18

2Ki 25:18The commander of the guard took as prisoners Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank and the three doorkeepers.

2Ki 25:19

2Ki 25:19Of those still in the city, he took the officer in charge of the fighting men, and five royal advisers. He also took the secretary who was chief officer in charge of conscripting the people of the land and sixty of the conscripts who were found in the city.

2Ki 25:20

2Ki 25:20Nebuzaradan the commander took them all and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

2Ki 25:21

2Ki 25:21There at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king had them executed. So Judah went into captivity, away from her land.

(Jer 40:5—41:18 )

2Ki 25:22

2Ki 25:22Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to be over the people he had left behind in Judah.

2Ki 25:23

2Ki 25:23When all the army officers and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, Jaazaniah the son of the Maakathite, and their men.

2Ki 25:24

2Ki 25:24Gedaliah took an oath to reassure them and their men. “Do not be afraid of the Babylonian officials,” he said. “Settle down in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you.”

2Ki 25:25

2Ki 25:25In the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was of royal blood, came with ten men and assassinated Gedaliah and also the men of Judah and the Babylonians who were with him at Mizpah.

2Ki 25:26

2Ki 25:26At this, all the people from the least to the greatest, together with the army officers, fled to Egypt for fear of the Babylonians.

Jehoiachin Released

(Jer 52:31–34 )

2Ki 25:27

2Ki 25:27In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Awel-Marduk became king of Babylon, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. He did this on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month.

2Ki 25:28

2Ki 25:28He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.

2Ki 25:29

2Ki 25:29So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king’s table.

2Ki 25:30

2Ki 25:30Day by day the king gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived.

See the NIV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NIV Footnotes

(25:3)

Probable reading of the original Hebrew text (see Jer. 52:6); Masoretic Text does not have fourth.

(25:4)

Or Chaldeans; also in verses 13, 25 and 26

(25:4)

Or the Jordan Valley

(25:5)

Or Chaldean; also in verses 10 and 24

(25:17)

That is, about 27 feet or about 8.1 meters

(25:17)

That is, about 4 1/2 feet or about 1.4 meters

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2 Kings Chapter 25 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras

2 Kings 25 :: New International Version (NIV)

Jehoiachin Released

NIV Footnotes

2 Kings Chapter 25 — Additional Translations:

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