Jeremiah 52:4-16

4Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, marched with his army to attack Jerusalem. He arrived on the tenth day of the tenth month, in the ninth year when Zedekiah had ruled Judah. His soldiers made their camp all around the city. They built heaps of earth all around Jerusalem's walls.

5Babylon's army stayed around the city until the 11th year that Zedekiah had been king.

6By the ninth day of the fourth month there was a very bad famine in the city. There was no food for the people to eat.

7Then Babylon's army broke down Jerusalem's wall so that they could go into the city. Their soldiers were all around the city. So the king of Judah and all his army tried to escape in the night. They went through the gate that was near the king's garden. The path went between the two walls of the city. They ran towards the Jordan Valley.

8But the soldiers of Babylon's army chased after King Zedekiah. They caught him on the flat land near Jericho. All King Zedekiah's soldiers ran away from him in many directions.

9Babylon's soldiers took hold of Zedekiah. They took him to King Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah, in Hamath region. Nebuchadnezzar decided how to punish Zedekiah.

10He told his soldiers to kill all Zedekiah's sons, while Zedekiah watched. He also punished all the officers of Judah with death there at Riblah.

11Then they cut out Zedekiah's eyes to make him blind. They tied him with chains and they took him to Babylon as their prisoner. They kept him in prison until the day that he died.

12King Nebuchadnezzar had an officer whose name was Nebuzaradan. He was the captain of the king's royal guards. Nebuzaradan came to Jerusalem when Nebuchadnezzar had ruled Babylon for 19 years. It was on the tenth day of the fifth month.

13Nebuzaradan destroyed the Lord's temple, the king's palace and all the other houses in Jerusalem. He burned them all with fire, so that he destroyed every important building in the city.

14Then Nebuzaradan commanded his whole army to knock down the walls around Jerusalem.

15Captain Nebuzaradan sent away as prisoners some of the poor people and the rest of the people who remained in Jerusalem. He also sent away those people who had agreed to serve the king of Babylon, and the workers who had special skills.

16But he let some of the poorest people stay there. He gave them vineyards and fields to work in.