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1And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, 2Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem and laid siege to it. 3And they built siegeworks all around it.
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So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
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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.
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Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, by 5the king's garden, though 6the Chaldeans were around the city. And they went in the direction of the 7Arabah.
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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.
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Then they captured the king 8and brought him up to the king of Babylon at 9Riblah, and they passed sentence on him.
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They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, 10and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains and took him to Babylon.
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11In the fifth month, on 12the seventh day of the month--that was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon--Nebuzaradan, the captain of the bodyguard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
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13And he burned the house of the LORD 14and the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down.
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And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, 15broke down the walls around Jerusalem.
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16And the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile.
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But the captain of the guard left 17some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.
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18And the pillars 19of bronze that were in the house of the LORD, and 20the stands and 21the bronze sea that were in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans broke in pieces and carried the bronze to Babylon.
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22And they took away the pots and the shovels and the snuffers and the dishes for incense and all the vessels of bronze used in the temple service,
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the fire pans also and the bowls. What was of gold the captain of the guard took away as gold, and what was of silver, as silver.
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As for the two pillars, the one sea, and the stands that Solomon had made for the house of the LORD, 23the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weight.
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24The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and on it was a capital of bronze. The height of the capital was three cubits. A latticework and pomegranates, all of bronze, were all around the capital. And the second pillar had the same, with the latticework.
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25And the captain of the guard took 26Seraiah the chief priest and 27Zephaniah the second priest and the three keepers of the threshold,
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and from the city he took an officer who had been in command of the men of war, and 28five men of the king's council who were found in the city, and the secretary of the commander 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.
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And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at 29Riblah.
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And the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at 30Riblah in the land of Hamath. 31So Judah was taken into exile out of its land.