1Zedequias tinha vinte e um anos quando se tornou rei e reinou onze anos em Jerusalém. O nome de sua mãe era Hamutal, filha de Jeremias, de Libna.2Ele fez o que o SENHOR reprova, assim como fez Jeoaquim.3A ira do SENHOR havia sido provocada em Jerusalém e em Judá de tal forma que ele teve que tirá-los da sua presença. Zedequias se rebelou contra o rei da Babilônia.4Então, no nono ano do reinado de Zedequias, no décimo mês, Nabucodonosor, rei da Babilônia, marchou contra Jerusalém com todo o seu exército. Acamparam fora da cidade e construíram torres de assalto ao redor dela.5A cidade ficou sob cerco até o décimo primeiro ano do rei Zedequias.6Ao chegar o nono dia do quarto mês a fome era tão severa que não havia comida para o povo.7Então o muro da cidade foi rompido. O rei e todos os soldados fugiram e saíram da cidade, à noite, na direção do jardim real, pela porta entre os dois muros, embora os babilônios estivessem cercando a cidade. Foram à Arabá[1],8mas os babilônios perseguiram o rei Zedequias e o alcançaram na planície de Jericó. Todos os seus soldados se separaram dele e se dispersaram,9e ele foi capturado. Ele foi levado ao rei da Babilônia em Ribla, na terra de Hamate, que o sentenciou.10Em Ribla, o rei da Babilônia mandou executar os filhos de Zedequias diante de seus olhos e também matou todos os nobres de Judá.11Então mandou furar os olhos de Zedequias e prendê-lo com correntes de bronze e o levou para a Babilônia, onde o manteve na prisão até o dia de sua morte.12No décimo dia do quinto mês, no décimo nono ano de Nabucodonosor, rei da Babilônia, Nebuzaradã, comandante da guarda imperial, que servia o rei da Babilônia, veio a Jerusalém.13Ele incendiou o templo do SENHOR, o palácio real e todas as casas de Jerusalém. Todos os edifícios importantes foram incendiados por ele.14O exército babilônio, sob o comandante da guarda imperial, derrubou todos os muros em torno de Jerusalém.15Nebuzaradã deportou para a Babilônia alguns dos mais pobres e o povo que restou na cidade, juntamente com o restante dos artesãos[2] e aqueles que tinham se rendido ao rei da Babilônia.16Mas Nebuzaradã deixou para trás o restante dos mais pobres da terra para trabalhar nas vinhas e nos campos.17Os babilônios despedaçaram as colunas de bronze, os estrados móveis e o mar de bronze que ficavam no templo do SENHOR e levaram todo o bronze para a Babilônia.18Também levaram embora as panelas, pás, tesouras de pavio, bacias de aspersão, tigelas e todos os utensílios de bronze usados no serviço do templo.19O comandante da guarda imperial levou embora as pias, os incensários, as bacias de aspersão, as panelas, os candeeiros, as tigelas e as bacias usadas para as ofertas derramadas, tudo que era feito de ouro puro ou de prata.20O bronze tirado das duas colunas, o mar e os doze touros de bronze debaixo dele, e os estrados móveis, que o rei Salomão fizera para o templo do SENHOR, eram mais do que se podia pesar.21Cada uma das colunas tinha oito metros e dez centímetros de altura e cinco metros e quarenta centímetros de circunferência[3]; cada uma tinha quatro dedos de espessura e era oca.22O capitel de bronze no alto de uma coluna tinha dois metros e vinte e cinco centímetros de altura e era ornamentado com uma peça entrelaçada e romãs de bronze em volta, tudo de bronze. A outra coluna, com suas romãs, era igual.23Havia noventa e seis romãs nos lados; o número total de romãs acima da peça entrelaçada ao redor era de cem.24O comandante da guarda tomou como prisioneiros o sumo sacerdote Seraías, o sacerdote adjunto Sofonias e os três guardas das portas.25Dos que ainda estavam na cidade, tomou o oficial encarregado dos homens de combate e sete conselheiros reais. Também tomou o secretário, que era o oficial maior encarregado do alistamento do povo da terra, e sessenta de seus homens que foram encontrados na cidade.26O comandante Nebuzaradã tomou todos eles e os levou ao rei da Babilônia em Ribla.27Ali, em Ribla, na terra de Hamate, o rei fez com que fossem executados. Assim Judá foi para o cativeiro, longe de sua terra.28Este é o número dos que Nebuzaradã levou para o exílio: No sétimo ano, 3.023 judeus;29no décimo oitavo ano de Nabucodonosor, 832 de Jerusalém;30em seu vigésimo terceiro ano, 745 judeus levados ao exílio pelo comandante da guarda imperial, Nebuzaradã. Foram ao todo 4.600 judeus.
Joaquim é Libertado
31No trigésimo sétimo ano do exílio do rei Joaquim de Judá, no ano em que Evil-Merodaque[4] tornou-se rei de Babilônia, ele libertou Joaquim, rei de Judá, da prisão no vigésimo quinto dia do décimo segundo mês.32Ele falou bondosamente com ele e deu-lhe um assento de honra mais elevado do que os dos outros reis que estavam com ele na Babilônia.33Desse modo Joaquim tirou as roupas da prisão e pelo resto da vida comeu à mesa do rei.34O rei da Babilônia deu a Joaquim uma pensão diária até o dia de sua morte.
1Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. (2 Rs 24:18)2And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. (2 Rs 23:37; Jr 22:13)3For because of the anger of the Lord it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast them out from his presence. And Zedekiah 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, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem, and laid siege to it. And they built siegeworks all around it. (Jr 39:1)5So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.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, and the Chaldeans were around the city. And they went in the direction of the Arabah.8But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah 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 Hamath, and he passed sentence on him.10The king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and also slaughtered all the officials of Judah at Riblah. (Jr 52:26)11He put out the eyes of Zedekiah, 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. (Ez 12:13)
The Temple Burned
12In the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month—that was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, who served the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem. (2 Rs 25:8; Jr 1:3; Jr 40:10; Jr 52:29)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 Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls around Jerusalem.15And Nebuzaradan 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. (Jr 37:13)16But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.17And 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 Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried all the bronze to Babylon. (2 Cr 4:2; 2 Cr 4:10; 2 Cr 4:12; Jr 27:19; Jr 27:22)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; (2 Rs 25:14)19also the small bowls and the fire pans and the basins and the pots and the lampstands and the dishes for incense and the bowls for drink offerings. What was of gold the captain of the guard took away as gold, and what was of silver, as silver. (Ex 25:29; Ex 37:16; 1 Rs 7:49; 1 Rs 7:50; 2 Rs 25:15)20As for the two pillars, the one sea, the twelve bronze bulls that were under the sea,[1] and the stands, which Solomon the king had made for the house of the Lord, the bronze of all these things was beyond weight. (1 Rs 7:25; 1 Rs 7:44)21As for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits,[2] its circumference was twelve cubits, and its thickness was four fingers, and it was hollow. (1 Rs 7:15)22On it was a capital of bronze. The height of the one capital was five cubits. A network and pomegranates, all of bronze, were around the capital. And the second pillar had the same, with pomegranates. (1 Rs 7:16; 2 Rs 25:17)23There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates were a hundred upon the network all around.
The People Exiled to Babylon
24And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest and the three keepers of the threshold; (1 Cr 6:14; Jr 29:25)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. (Et 1:14)26And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. (Jr 52:9)27And the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was taken into exile out of its land. (Jr 52:26)28This is the number of the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year, 3,023 Judeans; (2 Rs 24:12; 2 Rs 24:14)29in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem 832 persons; (Jr 52:12)30in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Judeans 745 persons; all the persons were 4,600.
Jehoiachin Released from Prison
31And in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, graciously freed[3] Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison. (2 Rs 25:27; Jr 22:24; Jr 37:1)32And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon. (Jr 27:3)33So Jehoiachin put off his prison garments. And every day of his life he dined regularly at the king’s table,34and for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, according to his daily needs, until the day of his death, as long as he lived.