4
Then the enemy broke into the city. All the soldiers fled by night using the gate between the two walls near the King's Garden. The Chaldeans were surrounding the city, so the soldiers ran toward the desert plain.
5
But the Chaldean army chased King Zedekiah and caught up with him in the Jericho plains. His entire army deserted him.
6
So the Chaldeans captured the king and brought him back to the Babylonian king, who was at Riblah. There his punishment was determined.
7
Zedekiah's sons were slaughtered right before his eyes. Then he was blinded, put in bronze chains, and taken off to Babylon.
8
On the seventh day of the fifth month in the nineteenth year of Babylon's King Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan arrived at Jerusalem. He was the commander of the guard and an official of the Babylonian king.
9
He burned down the LORD's temple, the royal palace, and all of Jerusalem's houses. He burned down every important building.
10
The whole Chaldean army under the commander of the guard tore down the walls surrounding Jerusalem.
11
Then Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard exiled the people who were left in the city, those who had already surrendered to Babylon's king, and the rest of the population.
12
The commander of the guard left some of the land's poor people behind to work the vineyards and be farmers.
13
The Chaldeans shattered the bronze columns, the stands, and the bronze Sea that were in the LORD's temple. They carried the bronze off to Babylon.
14
They also took the pots, the shovels, the wick trimmers, the dishes, and all the bronze items that had been used in the temple.