所以，耶和华使迦勒底人的王来攻击他们，在他们圣殿里用刀杀了他们的壮丁，不怜恤他们的少男处女、老人白叟。耶和华将他们都交在迦勒底王手里。

所以，耶和华使迦勒底人的王来攻击他们，在他们圣殿里用刀杀了他们的壮丁，不怜悯他们的少男少女、老人长者。耶和华把所有的人都交在他手里。

所以，耶和华使迦勒底人的王来攻击他们，在他们圣殿里用刀杀了他们的壮丁，不怜悯他们的少男少女、老人长者。耶和华把所有的人都交在他手里。

耶和华使迦勒底人的王起兵攻打他们，在他们的圣殿里用刀击杀他们的壮丁，毫不怜悯少男少女、老人和年高者。耶和华把他们全部交在他的手中。

耶和华使迦勒底人的王上来攻打他们，在他们的圣殿里用刀杀了他们的壮丁，少男和少女以及年老衰弱的，他们都不怜惜；耶和华把所有这些人都交在迦勒底王的手里。

所以，耶和華使迦勒底人的王來攻擊他們，在他們聖殿裏用刀殺了他們的壯丁，不憐恤他們的少男處女、老人白叟。耶和華將他們都交在迦勒底王手裏。

所以，耶和華使迦勒底人的王來攻擊他們，在他們聖殿裏用刀殺了他們的壯丁，不憐憫他們的少男少女、老人長者。耶和華把所有的人都交在他手裏。

所以，耶和華使迦勒底人的王來攻擊他們，在他們聖殿裏用刀殺了他們的壯丁，不憐憫他們的少男少女、老人長者。耶和華把所有的人都交在他手裏。

耶和華使迦勒底人的王起兵攻打他們，在他們的聖殿裡用刀擊殺他們的壯丁，毫不憐憫少男少女、老人和年高者。耶和華把他們全部交在他的手中。

耶和華使迦勒底人的王上來攻打他們，在他們的聖殿裡用刀殺了他們的壯丁，少男和少女以及年老衰弱的，他們都不憐惜；耶和華把所有這些人都交在迦勒底王的手裡。

因此永恆主使迦勒底人的王上來攻擊他們，就在他們聖所的殿裏用刀殺了他們的壯丁，不顧惜壯丁或處女、老邁的或衰弱的；永恆主把這一切人都交在迦勒底王手裏。

故上帝使迦勒底王來攻之、以刃戮其丁壯於其聖室、不恤幼男少女、老人白叟、俱付其手、

使迦勒底王至、在聖室中、戮諸壯士、凡丁男、處女、耆年、耄耋者、俱無所惜、見虜於敵。

使迦勒底王來攻之、在聖殿中、以刃戮諸壯士、不恤幼男少女、老人白叟、主俱付於其手、

He brought up against them the king of the Babylonians, who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary, and did not spare young men or young women, the elderly or the infirm. God gave them all into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.

The Lord brought the king of the Babylonians against them. The Babylonian army killed their young people with their swords at the temple. They didn’t spare young men or young women. They didn’t spare the old people or weak people either. God handed all of them over to Nebuchadnezzar.

Therefore he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or aged. He gave them all into his hand.

So the Lord brought the king of Babylon against them. The Babylonians killed Judah’s young men, even chasing after them into the Temple. They had no pity on the people, killing both young men and young women, the old and the infirm. God handed all of them over to Nebuchadnezzar.

So he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their fit young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary. He had no pity on young men or young women, elderly or aged; he handed them all over to him.

So He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or frail; He handed them all over to him.

Therefore He brought against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, on the aged or the weak; He gave them all into his hand.

Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldeans, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or virgin, old man or hoary- headed: he gave them all into his hand.

So He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their choice young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary. He had no pity on young men or young women, elderly or aged; He handed them all over to him.

Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave[ them] all into his hand.

He brought against them the king of the Babylonians, who slaughtered their young men in their temple. He did not spare young men or women, or even the old and aging. God handed everyone over to him.

Therefore he brought on them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or gray- headed. He gave them all into his hand.

Have regard for your covenant, because haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land. (niv)

From the days of our ancestors until now, our guilt has been great. Because of our sins, we and our kings and our priests have been subjected to the sword and captivity, to pillage and humiliation at the hand of foreign kings, as it is today. (niv)

I will make their widows more numerous than the sand of the sea. At midday I will bring a destroyer against the mothers of their young men; suddenly I will bring down on them anguish and terror.The mother of seven will grow faint and breathe her last. Her sun will set while it is still day; she will be disgraced and humiliated. I will put the survivors to the sword before their enemies,” declares the Lord. (niv)

“‘ But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands,and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant,then I will do this to you: I will bring on you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and sap your strength. You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it.I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.“‘ If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over.I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze.Your strength will be spent in vain, because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of your land yield their fruit.“‘ If you remain hostile toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over, as your sins deserve.I will send wild animals against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few in number that your roads will be deserted.“‘ If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction but continue to be hostile toward me,I myself will be hostile toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over.And I will bring the sword on you to avenge the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be given into enemy hands.When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will be able to bake your bread in one oven, and they will dole out the bread by weight. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied.“‘ If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile toward me,then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over.You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters.I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars and pile your dead bodies on the lifeless forms of your idols, and I will abhor you.I will turn your cities into ruins and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings.I myself will lay waste the land, so that your enemies who live there will be appalled.I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins.Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate and you are in the country of your enemies; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths.All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it.“‘ As for those of you who are left, I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them.They will stumble over one another as though fleeing from the sword, even though no one is pursuing them. So you will not be able to stand before your enemies.You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you.Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their ancestors’ sins they will waste away.“‘ But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors— their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward me,which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies— then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin,I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.For the land will be deserted by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will pay for their sins because they rejected my laws and abhorred my decrees.Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking my covenant with them. I am the Lord their God.But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord.’”These are the decrees, the laws and the regulations that the Lord established at Mount Sinai between himself and the Israelites through Moses. (niv)

“ Look, Lord, and consider: Whom have you ever treated like this? Should women eat their offspring, the children they have cared for? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?“ Young and old lie together in the dust of the streets; my young men and young women have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of your anger; you have slaughtered them without pity.“ As you summon to a feast day, so you summoned against me terrors on every side. In the day of the Lord’s anger no one escaped or survived; those I cared for and reared my enemy has destroyed.” (niv)

“ This is what the Lord says: As I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will give them all the prosperity I have promised them. (niv)

Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.When such a person hears the words of this oath and they invoke a blessing on themselves, thinking,“ I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way,” they will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.The Lord will never be willing to forgive them; his wrath and zeal will burn against them. All the curses written in this book will fall on them, and the Lord will blot out their names from under heaven.The Lord will single them out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.Your children who follow you in later generations and foreigners who come from distant lands will see the calamities that have fallen on the land and the diseases with which the Lord has afflicted it.The whole land will be a burning waste of salt and sulfur— nothing planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it. It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim, which the Lord overthrew in fierce anger.All the nations will ask:“ Why has the Lord done this to this land? Why this fierce, burning anger?”And the answer will be:“ It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt.They went off and worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, gods they did not know, gods he had not given them.Therefore the Lord’s anger burned against this land, so that he brought on it all the curses written in this book.In furious anger and in great wrath the Lord uprooted them from their land and thrust them into another land, as it is now.” (niv)

They have left the dead bodies of your servants as food for the birds of the sky, the flesh of your own people for the animals of the wild.They have poured out blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury the dead. (niv)

And the Lord said to Moses:“ You are going to rest with your ancestors, and these people will soon prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake me and break the covenant I made with them.And in that day I will become angry with them and forsake them; I will hide my face from them, and they will be destroyed. Many disasters and calamities will come on them, and in that day they will ask,‘ Have not these disasters come on us because our God is not with us?’And I will certainly hide my face in that day because of all their wickedness in turning to other gods. (niv)

So give their children over to famine; hand them over to the power of the sword. Let their wives be made childless and widows; let their men be put to death, their young men slain by the sword in battle. (niv)

However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you:You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed.The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.The Lord will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him.The Lord will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess.The Lord will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish.The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron.The Lord will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth.Your carcasses will be food for all the birds and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away.The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured.The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind.At midday you will grope about like a blind person in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue you.You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and rape her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit.Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue them.Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless to lift a hand.A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression all your days.The sights you see will drive you mad.The Lord will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.The Lord will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your ancestors. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone.You will become a thing of horror, a byword and an object of ridicule among all the peoples where the Lord will drive you.You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it.You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them.You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off.You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity.Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land.The foreigners who reside among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower.They will lend to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, but you will be the tail.All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you.They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever.Because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity,therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the Lord sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand,a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young.They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine or olive oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined.They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the Lord your God is giving you.Because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you.Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children,and he will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all he has left because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities.The most gentle and sensitive woman among you— so sensitive and gentle that she would not venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot— will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughterthe afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For in her dire need she intends to eat them secretly because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of your cities.If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name— the Lord your God—the Lord will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses.He will bring on you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling to you.The Lord will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed.You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey the Lord your God.Just as it pleased the Lord to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess.Then the Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods— gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known.Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the Lord will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart.You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life.In the morning you will say,“ If only it were evening!” and in the evening,“ If only it were morning!”— because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see.The Lord will send you back in ships to Egypt on a journey I said you should never make again. There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you. (niv)

The Lord did not hesitate to bring the disaster on us, for the Lord our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him. (niv)

So the Lord brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon. (niv)

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.The city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat.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 were surrounding the city. They fled toward the Arabah,but the Babylonian army pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered,and he was captured. He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where sentence was pronounced on him.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.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.He set fire to the temple of the Lord, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down.The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the imperial guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem.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.But the commander left behind some of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.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.They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes and all the bronze articles used in the temple service.The commander of the imperial guard took away the censers and sprinkling bowls— all that were made of pure gold or silver.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.Each pillar was eighteen cubits high. The bronze capital on top of one pillar was three cubits high and was decorated with a network and pomegranates of bronze all around. The other pillar, with its network, was similar.The commander of the guard took as prisoners Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank and the three doorkeepers.Of those still in the city, he took the officer in charge of the fighting men, and five royal advisers. He also took the secretary who was chief officer in charge of conscripting the people of the land and sixty of the conscripts who were found in the city.Nebuzaradan the commander took them all and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.There at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king had them executed. So Judah went into captivity, away from her land.Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to be over the people he had left behind in Judah.When all the army officers and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah— Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, Jaazaniah the son of the Maakathite, and their men.Gedaliah took an oath to reassure them and their men.“ Do not be afraid of the Babylonian officials,” he said.“ Settle down in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you.”In the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was of royal blood, came with ten men and assassinated Gedaliah and also the men of Judah and the Babylonians who were with him at Mizpah.At this, all the people from the least to the greatest, together with the army officers, fled to Egypt for fear of the Babylonians.In the thirty- seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Awel- Marduk became king of Babylon, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. He did this on the twenty- seventh day of the twelfth month.He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king’s table.Day by day the king gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived. (niv)

And now the Lord has brought it about; he has done just as he said he would. All this happened because you people sinned against the Lord and did not obey him. (niv)

As I listened, he said to the others,“ Follow him through the city and kill, without showing pity or compassion.Slaughter the old men, the young men and women, the mothers and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the old men who were in front of the temple.Then he said to them,“ Defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go!” So they went out and began killing throughout the city. (niv)

In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army and laid siege to it.And on the ninth day of the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year, the city wall was broken through.Then all the officials of the king of Babylon came and took seats in the Middle Gate: Nergal-Sharezer of Samgar, Nebo-Sarsekim a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer a high official and all the other officials of the king of Babylon.When Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled; they left the city at night by way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the two walls, and headed toward the Arabah.But the Babylonian army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. They captured him and took him to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced sentence on him.There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and also killed all the nobles of Judah.Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon.The Babylonians set fire to the royal palace and the houses of the people and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard carried into exile to Babylon the people who remained in the city, along with those who had gone over to him, and the rest of the people.But Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard left behind in the land of Judah some of the poor people, who owned nothing; and at that time he gave them vineyards and fields.Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had given these orders about Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard:“ Take him and look after him; don’t harm him but do for him whatever he asks.”So Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard, Nebushazban a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer a high official and all the other officers of the king of Babylonsent and had Jeremiah taken out of the courtyard of the guard. They turned him over to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him back to his home. So he remained among his own people.While Jeremiah had been confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the Lord came to him:“ Go and tell Ebed- Melek the Cushite,‘ This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I am about to fulfill my words against this city— words concerning disaster, not prosperity. At that time they will be fulfilled before your eyes.But I will rescue you on that day, declares the Lord; you will not be given into the hands of those you fear.I will save you; you will not fall by the sword but will escape with your life, because you trust in me, declares the Lord.’” (niv)

Zedekiah was twenty- one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah.He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as Jehoiakim had done.It was because of the Lord’s anger that all this happened to Jerusalem and Judah, and in the end he thrust them from his presence. Now Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.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. They encamped outside the city and built siege works all around it.The city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat.Then the city wall was broken through, and the whole army fled. They left the city at night through the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, though the Babylonians were surrounding the city. They fled toward the Arabah,but the Babylonian army pursued King Zedekiah and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered,and he was captured. He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced sentence on him.There at Riblah the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; he also killed all the officials of Judah.Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon, where he put him in prison till the day of his death.On the tenth day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.He set fire to the temple of the Lord, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down.The whole Babylonian army, under the commander of the imperial guard, broke down all the walls around Jerusalem.Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile some of the poorest people and those who remained in the city, along with the rest of the craftsmen and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon.But Nebuzaradan left behind the rest of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.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 all the bronze to Babylon.They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes and all the bronze articles used in the temple service.The commander of the imperial guard took away the basins, censers, sprinkling bowls, pots, lampstands, dishes and bowls used for drink offerings— all that were made of pure gold or silver.The bronze from the two pillars, the Sea and the twelve bronze bulls under it, and the movable stands, which King Solomon had made for the temple of the Lord, was more than could be weighed.Each pillar was eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference; each was four fingers thick, and hollow.The bronze capital on top of one pillar was five cubits high and was decorated with a network and pomegranates of bronze all around. The other pillar, with its pomegranates, was similar.There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; the total number of pomegranates above the surrounding network was a hundred.The commander of the guard took as prisoners Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank and the three doorkeepers.Of those still in the city, he took the officer in charge of the fighting men, and seven royal advisers. He also took the secretary who was chief officer in charge of conscripting the people of the land, sixty of whom were found in the city.Nebuzaradan the commander took them all and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.There at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king had them executed. So Judah went into captivity, away from her land.This is the number of the people Nebuchadnezzar carried into exile: in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews;in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year, 832 people from Jerusalem;in his twenty-third year, 745 Jews taken into exile by Nebuzaradan the commander of the imperial guard. There were 4,600 people in all.In the thirty- seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Awel- Marduk became king of Babylon, on the twenty- fifth day of the twelfth month, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah and freed him from prison.He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king’s table.Day by day the king of Babylon gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived, till the day of his death. (niv)

Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; filled with food, they became heavy and sleek. They abandoned the God who made them and rejected the Rock their Savior.They made him jealous with their foreign gods and angered him with their detestable idols.They sacrificed to false gods, which are not God— gods they had not known, gods that recently appeared, gods your ancestors did not fear.You deserted the Rock, who fathered you; you forgot the God who gave you birth.The Lord saw this and rejected them because he was angered by his sons and daughters.“ I will hide my face from them,” he said,“ and see what their end will be; for they are a perverse generation, children who are unfaithful.They made me jealous by what is no god and angered me with their worthless idols. I will make them envious by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding.For a fire will be kindled by my wrath, one that burns down to the realm of the dead below. It will devour the earth and its harvests and set afire the foundations of the mountains.“ I will heap calamities on them and spend my arrows against them.I will send wasting famine against them, consuming pestilence and deadly plague; I will send against them the fangs of wild beasts, the venom of vipers that glide in the dust.In the street the sword will make them childless; in their homes terror will reign. The young men and young women will perish, the infants and those with gray hair.I said I would scatter them and erase their name from human memory,but I dreaded the taunt of the enemy, lest the adversary misunderstand and say,‘ Our hand has triumphed; the Lord has not done all this.’”They are a nation without sense, there is no discernment in them. (niv)

The Lord sent Babylonian, Aramean, Moabite and Ammonite raiders against him to destroy Judah, in accordance with the word of the Lord proclaimed by his servants the prophets.Surely these things happened to Judah according to the Lord’s command, in order to remove them from his presence because of the sins of Manasseh and all he had done, (niv)

But they plotted against him, and by order of the king they stoned him to death in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple. (niv)

I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. (niv)

Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.Jesus answered,“ Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? (niv)