2 Kings 25:1-17

The Fall of Jerusalem

1 So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army. He encamped outside the city and built siege works all around it.
2 The city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
3 By the ninth day of the fourth[a] month the famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat.
4 Then the city wall was broken through, and the whole army fled at night through the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, though the Babylonians[b] were surrounding the city. They fled toward the Arabah,[c]
5 but the Babylonian[d] army pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered,
6 and he was captured. He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where sentence was pronounced on him.
7 They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.
8 On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, an official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
9 He set fire to the temple of the LORD, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down.
10 The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the imperial guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem.
11 Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile the people who remained in the city, along with the rest of the populace and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon.
12 But the commander left behind some of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.
13 The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the movable stands and the bronze Sea that were at the temple of the LORD and they carried the bronze to Babylon.
14 They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes and all the bronze articles used in the temple service.
15 The commander of the imperial guard took away the censers and sprinkling bowls—all that were made of pure gold or silver.
16 The bronze from the two pillars, the Sea and the movable stands, which Solomon had made for the temple of the LORD, was more than could be weighed.
17 Each pillar was eighteen cubits[e] high. The bronze capital on top of one pillar was three cubits[f] high and was decorated with a network and pomegranates of bronze all around. The other pillar, with its network, was similar.

2 Kings 25:1-17 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

Cross References 21

  • 1. Jeremiah 32:1
  • 2. Jeremiah 21:2; Jeremiah 34:1-7
  • 3. Isaiah 23:13; Isaiah 29:3; Jeremiah 4:16-17; Jeremiah 32:2; Jeremiah 33:4; Ezekiel 21:22; Ezekiel 24:2
  • 4. S Leviticus 26:26; Isaiah 22:2; Jeremiah 14:18; Jeremiah 37:21; Lamentations 2:20; Lamentations 4:9
  • 5. Job 30:14; Psalms 144:14; Jeremiah 50:15; Jeremiah 51:44,58; Ezekiel 33:21
  • 6. Jeremiah 4:17; Jeremiah 6:3
  • 7. S Leviticus 26:36; Ezekiel 12:14; Ezekiel 17:21
  • 8. Isaiah 22:3; Jeremiah 38:23; Jeremiah 34:21-22
  • 9. S Numbers 34:11; 2 Kings 23:33
  • 10. S Deuteronomy 28:36; Jeremiah 21:7; Jeremiah 32:4-5; Jeremiah 34:3,21; Ezekiel 12:11; Ezekiel 19:9; Ezekiel 40:1
  • 11. Isaiah 60:7; Isaiah 63:15,18; Isaiah 64:11
  • 12. S Deuteronomy 13:16; Nehemiah 1:3; Psalms 74:3-8; Psalms 79:1; Jeremiah 2:15; Jeremiah 17:27; Jeremiah 21:10; Jeremiah 26:6,18; Lamentations 4:11; Amos 2:5; Micah 3:12
  • 13. Nehemiah 1:3; Jeremiah 50:15
  • 14. S Leviticus 26:44; 2 Kings 24:14
  • 15. S Deuteronomy 28:36; S 2 Kings 24:1
  • 16. S 2 Kings 24:14
  • 17. S 1 Kings 7:50
  • 18. S Numbers 7:14
  • 19. Exodus 27:3; S 2 Kings 24:13; Ezra 1:7; 1 Kings 7:47-50
  • 20. S 2 Kings 24:13; Jeremiah 15:13; Jeremiah 20:5; Jeremiah 27:16-22
  • 21. 1 Kings 7:15-22

Footnotes 6

  • [a]. Probable reading of the original Hebrew text (see Jer. 52:6); Masoretic Text does not have "fourth" .
  • [b]. Or "Chaldeans" ; also in verses 13, 25 and 26
  • [c]. Or "the Jordan Valley"
  • [d]. Or "Chaldean" ; also in verses 10 and 24
  • [e]. That is, about 27 feet or about 8.1 meters
  • [f]. That is, about 4 1/2 feet or about 1.4 meters
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