2 Kings 25:1-9

1So King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and set up camp outside it. They built siege ramps all around it. He arrived on the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign.

2The city remained under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year.

3By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city was so severe the residents had no food.

4The enemy broke through the city walls, and all the soldiers tried to escape. They left the city during the night. They went through the gate between the two walls that is near the king’s garden. (The Babylonians were all around the city.) Then they headed for the Jordan Valley.

5But the Babylonian army chased after the king. They caught up with him in the plains of Jericho, and his entire army deserted him.

6They captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where he passed sentence on him.

7Zedekiah’s sons were executed while Zedekiah was forced to watch. The king of Babylon then had Zedekiah’s eyes put out, bound him in bronze chains, and carried him off to Babylon.

8On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard who served the king of Babylon, arrived in Jerusalem.

9He burned down the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem, including every large house.