2 Kings 25:8-21

Jerusalem Burned and Plundered

8 ¹Now on the seventh day of the ²fifth 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 ³He burned the house of the LORD, ⁴the 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 ⁵broke down the walls around Jerusalem.

11 Then ⁶the 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 ⁷the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.

13 ⁸Now the bronze pillars which were in the house of the LORD, and the stands and ⁹the bronze sea which were in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans broke in pieces and carried the bronze to Babylon.

14 ¹⁰They 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 -¹¹the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weight.

17 ¹²The 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 ¹³Seraiah the chief priest and ¹⁴Zephaniah 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 ¹⁵five 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 ¹⁶Riblah.

21 Then the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. ¹⁷So Judah was led away into exile from its land.

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2 Kings 25:8-21 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 17

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

Footnotes 6

[a]. Lit "bronze of them"
[b]. I.e. One cubit equals approx 18 in.
[c]. I.e. One cubit equals approx 18 in.
[d]. Lit "keepers of the door"
[e]. Lit "men of those seeing the king's face"
[f]. Or "scribe, a captain"