- The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign; and this Seraiah was a quiet prince. So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon. And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When you come to Babylon, and shall see and shall read all these words, then shall you say, O Lord, you have spoken against this place, to cut it off that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever. And it shall be, when you have made an end of reading this book, that you shall bind a stone to it and cast it into the middle of Euphrates. And you shall say, Thus shall Babylon sink and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her, and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
- Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. For through the anger of the Lord it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts against it round about. So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was severe in the city so that there was no bread for the people of the land. Then the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the gate between the two walls which was by the king’s garden (now the Chaldeans were by the city round about). And they went by the way of the plain. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him. Then they took the king and carried him up unto the king of Babylon, to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgment upon him. And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. He slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah. Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and the king of Babylon bound him in chains and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison until the day of his death.
- Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard who served the king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem and burned the house of the Lord, and the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; and all the houses of the great men burned he with fire. And all the army of the Chaldeans that were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls of Jerusalem round about. Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive certain of the poor of the people, and the residue of the people that remained in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude. But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left certain of the poor of the land for vinedressers and for husbandmen.
- Also, the pillars of brass that were in the house of the Lord, and the bases, and the brazen sea that was in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke and carried all the brass of them to Babylon. The cauldrons also, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass with which they ministered, took they away. And the basins, and the fire pans, and the bowls, and the cauldrons, and the candlesticks, and the spoons, and the cups — that which was of gold, in gold, and that which was of silver, in silver — the captain of the guard took away. The two pillars, one sea, and twelve brazen bulls that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the Lord, the brass of all these vessels was without weight. And concerning the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a fillet of twelve cubits did encompass it. And the thickness thereof was four fingers — it was hollow. And a chapiter of brass was upon it. And the height of one chapiter was five cubits, with network and pomegranates upon the chapiters round about, all of brass. The second pillar also, and the pomegranates were like unto these. And there were ninety-six pomegranates on a side, and all the pomegranates upon the network were a hundred round about.
- And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the door. He took also out of the city a eunuch who had the charge of the men of war, and seven men of them that were near the king’s person who were found in the city, and the principal scribe of the host who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land that were found in the midst of the city. So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon, to Riblah. And the king of Babylon smote them and put them to death in Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive out of his own land.
- This is the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year, three thousand twenty-three Jews; in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty-two people; in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty-five people. All the people were four thousand six hundred.
- And it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the twenty-fifth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him forth out of prison, and spoke kindly unto him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon, and changed his prison garments. And he did continually eat bread before him all the days of his life. And for his diet, there was a continual diet given him of the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.
Chapter 19