The Bible in Basic English BBE
Good News Translation GNT
1 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king; he was king for eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
1
Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of the Jeremiah who lived in the city of Libnah.
2 And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as Jehoiakim had done.
2
King Zedekiah sinned against the Lord, just as King Jehoiakim had done.
3 And because of the wrath of the Lord this came about in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had sent them away from before him: and Zedekiah took up arms against the king of Babylon.
3
The Lord became so angry with the people of Jerusalem and Judah that he banished them from his sight. Zedekiah rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia,
4 And in the ninth year of his rule, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, came against Jerusalem with all his army and took up his position before it, building earthworks all round it.
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and so Nebuchadnezzar came with all his army and attacked Jerusalem on the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign. They set up camp outside the city, built siege walls around it,
5 So the town was shut in by their forces till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
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and kept it under siege until Zedekiah's eleventh year.
6 In the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the store of food in the town was almost gone, so that there was no food for the people of the land.
6
On the ninth day of the fourth month of that same year, when the famine was so bad that the people had nothing left to eat,
7 Then an opening was made in the wall of the town, and all the men of war went in flight out of the town by night through the doorway between the two walls which was by the king's garden; (now the Chaldaeans were stationed round the town:) and they went by the way of the Arabah.
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the city walls were broken through. Although the Babylonians were surrounding the city, all the soldiers escaped during the night. They left by way of the royal garden, went through the gateway connecting the two walls, and fled in the direction of the Jordan Valley.
8 And the Chaldaean army went after King Zedekiah and overtook him on the other side of Jericho, and all his army went in flight from him in every direction.
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But the Babylonian army pursued King Zedekiah, captured him in the plains near Jericho, and all his soldiers deserted him.
9 Then they made the king a prisoner and took him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath to be judged.
9
Zedekiah was taken to King Nebuchadnezzar, who was in the city of Riblah in the territory of Hamath, and there Nebuchadnezzar passed sentence on him.
10 And the king of Babylon put the sons of Zedekiah to death before his eyes: and he put to death all the rulers of Judah in Riblah.
10
At Riblah he put Zedekiah's sons to death while Zedekiah was looking on and he also had the officials of Judah executed.
11 And he put out Zedekiah's eyes; and the king of Babylon, chaining him in iron bands, took him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.
11
After that, he had Zedekiah's eyes put out and had him placed in chains and taken to Babylon. Zedekiah remained in prison in Babylon until the day he died.
12 Now in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the armed men, a servant of the king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem.
12
On the tenth day of the fifth month of the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia, Nebuzaradan, adviser to the king and commander of his army, entered Jerusalem.
13 And he had the house of the Lord and the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, burned with fire:
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He burned down the Temple, the palace, and the houses of all the important people in Jerusalem;
14 And the walls round Jerusalem were broken down by the Chaldaean army which was with the captain.
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and his soldiers tore down the city walls.
15 Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the armed men, took away as prisoners the rest of the people who were still in the town, and those who had given themselves up to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the workmen.
15
Then Nebuzaradan took away to Babylonia the people who were left in the city, the remaining skilled workers, and those who had deserted to the Babylonians.
16 But Nebuzaradan, the captain of the armed men, let the poorest of the land go on living there, to take care of the vines and the fields.
16
But he left in Judah some of the poorest people, who owned no property, and he put them to work in the vineyards and fields.
17 And the brass pillars which were in the house of the Lord, and the wheeled bases and the great brass water-vessel in the house of the Lord, were broken up by the Chaldaeans, who took all the brass away to Babylon.
17
The Babylonians broke in pieces the bronze columns and the carts that were in the Temple, together with the large bronze tank, and they took all the bronze to Babylon.
18 And the pots and the spades and the scissors for the lights and the spoons, and all the brass vessels used in the Lord's house, they took away.
18
They also took away the shovels and the ash containers used in cleaning the altar, the tools used in tending the lamps, the bowls used for catching the blood from the sacrifices, the bowls used for burning incense, and all the other bronze articles used in the Temple service.
19 And the cups and the fire-trays and the basins and the pots and the supports for the lights and the spoons and the wide basins; the gold of the gold vessels, and the silver of the silver vessels, the captain of the armed men took away.
19
They took away everything that was made of gold or silver: the small bowls, the pans used for carrying live coals, the bowls for holding the blood from the sacrifices, the ash containers, the lampstands, the bowls used for incense, and the bowls used for pouring out wine offerings.
20 The two pillars, the great water-vessel, and the twelve brass oxen which were under it, and the ten wheeled bases, which King Solomon had made for the house of the Lord: the brass of all these vessels was without weight.
20
The bronze objects that King Solomon had made for the Temple - the two columns, the carts, the large tank, and the twelve bulls that supported it - were too heavy to weigh.
21 And as for the pillars, one pillar was eighteen cubits high, and twelve cubits measured all round, and it was as thick as a man's hand: it was hollow.
21
The two columns were identical: each one was 27 feet high and 18 feet around. They were hollow, and the metal was 3 inches thick. On top of each column was a bronze capital 7 1/2 feet high, and all around it was a grillwork decorated with pomegranates, all of which was also made of bronze.
22 And there was a crown of brass on it: the crown was five cubits high, circled with a network and apples all of brass; and the second pillar had the same.
23 There were ninety-six apples on the outside; the number of apples all round the network was a hundred.
23
On the grillwork of each column there were a hundred pomegranates in all, and ninety-six of these were visible from the ground.
24 And the captain of the armed men took Seraiah, the chief priest, and Zephaniah, the second priest, and the three door-keepers;
24
In addition, Nebuzaradan, the commanding officer, took away as prisoners Seraiah the High Priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank, and the three other important Temple officials.
25 And from the town he took the unsexed servant who was over the men of war, and seven of the king's near friends who were in the town, and the scribe of the captain of the army, who was responsible for getting the people of the land together in military order, and sixty men of the people of the land who were in the town.
25
From the city he took the officer who had been in command of the troops, seven of the king's personal advisers who were still in the city, the commander's assistant, who was in charge of military records, and sixty other important men.
26 These Nebuzaradan, the captain of the armed men, took with him to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
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Nebuzaradan took them to the king of Babylonia, who was in the city of Riblah
27 And the king of Babylon put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was taken prisoner away from his land.
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in the territory of Hamath. There the king had them beaten and put to death. So the people of Judah were carried away from their land into exile.
28 These are the people whom Nebuchadrezzar took away prisoner: in the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Jews:
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This is the record of the people that Nebuchadnezzar took away as prisoners: in his seventh year as king he carried away 3,023;
29 And in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar he took away as prisoners from Jerusalem eight hundred and thirty-two persons:
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in his eighteenth year, 832 from Jerusalem;
30 In the twenty-third year of Nebuchadrezzar, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the armed men, took away as prisoners seven hundred and forty-five of the Jews: all the persons were four thousand and six hundred.
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and in his twenty-third year, 745 - taken away by Nebuzaradan. In all, 4,600 people were taken away.
31 And in the thirty-seventh year after Jehoiachin, king of Judah, had been taken prisoner, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, Evil-merodach, king of Babylon, in the first year after he became king, took Jehoiachin, king of Judah, out of prison.
31
In the year that Evil-merodach became king of Babylonia, he showed kindness to King Jehoiachin of Judah by releasing him from prison. This happened on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year after Jehoiachin had been taken away as a prisoner.
32 And he said kind words to him and put his seat higher than the seats of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.
32
Evil-merodach treated him kindly and gave him a position of greater honor than he gave the other kings who were exiles with him in Babylonia.
33 And his prison clothing was changed, and he was a guest at the king's table every day for the rest of his life.
33
So Jehoiachin was permitted to change from his prison clothes and to dine at the king's table for the rest of his life.
34 And for his food, the king gave him a regular amount every day till the day of his death, for the rest of his life.
34
Each day for as long as he lived, he was given a regular allowance for his needs.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.