2 Kings 25:1-21

Nebuchadnezzar Besieges Jerusalem

1 ¹Now in the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, ²Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, camped against it and ³built a siege wall all around it.

2 So the city was under siege until the eleventh * year of King Zedekiah.

3 On the ninth day of the fourth month ⁴the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.

4 ⁵Then the city was broken into, and all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls beside ⁶the king's garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. And they went by way of the Arabah.

5 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho and all his army was scattered from him.

6 Then ⁷they captured the king and ⁸brought him to the king of Babylon at ⁹Riblah, and he passed sentence on him.

7 ¹⁰They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, then ¹¹put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon.

Jerusalem Burned and Plundered

8 ¹²Now on the seventh day of the ¹³fifth month, which was the nineteenth * year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.

9 ¹⁴He burned the house of the LORD, ¹⁵the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; even every great house he burned with fire.

10 So all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard ¹⁶broke down the walls around Jerusalem.

11 Then ¹⁷the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon and the rest of the people, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away into exile.

12 But the captain of the guard left some of ¹⁸the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.

13 ¹⁹Now the bronze pillars which were in the house of the LORD, and the stands and ²⁰the bronze sea which were in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans broke in pieces and carried the bronze to Babylon.

14 ²¹They took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the spoons, and all the bronze vessels which were used in temple service.

15 The captain of the guard also took away the firepans and the basins, what was fine gold and what was fine silver.

16 The two pillars, the one sea, and the stands which Solomon had made for the house of the LORD -²²the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weight.

17 ²³The height of the one pillar was eighteen * cubits, and a bronze capital was on it; the height of the capital was three cubits, with a network and pomegranates on the capital all around, all of bronze. And the second pillar was like these with network.

18 Then the captain of the guard took ²⁴Seraiah the chief priest and ²⁵Zephaniah the second priest, with the three officers of the temple.

19 From the city he took one official who was overseer of the men of war, and ²⁶five of the king's advisers * who were found in the city; and the scribe of the captain of the army who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city.

20 Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at ²⁷Riblah.

21 Then the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. ²⁸So Judah was led away into exile from its land.

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2 Kings 25:1-21 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 25

In this chapter is an account of the siege, taking, and burning of the city of Jerusalem, and of the carrying captive the king and the inhabitants to Babylon, 2Ki 25:1-12, as also of the pillars and vessels of the temple brought thither, 2Ki 25:13-17 and of the putting to death several of the principal persons of the land, 2Ki 25:18-22, and of the miserable condition of the rest under Gedaliah, whom Ishmael slew, 2Ki 25:23-26, and the chapter, and so the history, is concluded with the kindness Jehoiachin met with from the king of Babylon, after thirty seven years' captivity, 2Ki 25:27-30.

&c.] Of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah. From hence to the end of 2Ki 25:7, the account exactly agrees with Jer 52:4-11. 18182-941226-1348-2Ki25.2

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 28

1. 2 Chronicles 36:17-20; Jeremiah 39:1-7
2. Jeremiah 21:2; Jeremiah 34:1, 2; Ezekiel 24:2
3. Ezekiel 21:22
4. 2 Kings 6:24, 25; Lamentations 4:9, 10
5. Ezekiel 33:21
6. Nehemiah 3:15
7. Jeremiah 34:21, 22
8. Jeremiah 32:4
9. 2 Kings 23:33
10. Jeremiah 39:6, 7
11. Ezekiel 12:13
12. Jeremiah 52:12
13. Jeremiah 39:8-12
14. 1 Kings 9:8; 2 Chronicles 36:19; Psalms 74:3-7
15. Amos 2:5
16. 2 Kings 14:13; Nehemiah 1:3
17. 2 Chronicles 36:20
18. 2 Kings 24:14; Jeremiah 40:7
19. 1 Kings 7:15-22; 2 Kings 20:17; 2 Chronicles 3:15-17; 2 Chronicles 36:18
20. 1 Kings 7:23-26; 2 Chronicles 4:2-4
21. Exodus 27:3; 1 Kings 7:47-50; 2 Chronicles 4:16
22. 1 Kings 7:47
23. 1 Kings 7:15-22
24. 1 Chronicles 6:14; Ezra 7:1
25. Jeremiah 21:1; Jeremiah 29:25, 29
26. Esther 1:14
27. 2 Kings 23:33
28. Deuteronomy 28:64; 2 Kings 23:27

Footnotes 9

[a]. Lit "against it"
[b]. So some ancient mss and versions; M.T. "he"
[c]. Lit "they spoke judgment with him"
[d]. Lit "bronze of them"
[e]. I.e. One cubit equals approx 18 in.
[f]. I.e. One cubit equals approx 18 in.
[g]. Lit "keepers of the door"
[h]. Lit "men of those seeing the king's face"
[i]. Or "scribe, a captain"