2 Kings 25

The Fall of Jerusalem and Babylonian Exile

¹In the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it around it.

²So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

³On the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.

⁴Then 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, which was by the king’s garden (now the Chaldeans were against the city around it); and the king went by the way of the Arabah.

⁵But the Chaldean army pursued the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.

⁶Then they captured the king and carried him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they passed judgment on him.

⁷They killed Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes, then put out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon.

⁸Now in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the 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.

⁹He burned the LORD’s house, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He burned every great house with fire.

¹⁰All the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem.

¹¹Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive the rest of the people who were left in the city and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon—all the rest of the multitude.

¹²But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to work the vineyards and fields.

¹³The Chaldeans broke up the pillars of bronze that were in the LORD’s house and the bases and the bronze sea that were in the LORD’s house, and carried the bronze pieces to Babylon.

¹⁴They took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the spoons, and all the vessels of bronze with which they ministered.

¹⁵The captain of the guard took away the fire pans, the basins, that which was of gold, for gold, and that which was of silver, for silver.

¹⁶The two pillars, the one sea, and the bases, which Solomon had made for the LORD’s house, the bronze of all these vessels was not weighed.

¹⁷The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a capital of bronze was on it. The height of the capital was three cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capital around it, all of bronze; and the second pillar with its network was like these.

¹⁸The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold;

¹⁹and out of the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war; and five men of those who saw the king’s face, who were found in the city; and the scribe, 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.

²⁰Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah.

²¹The king of Babylon attacked them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive out of his land.

²²As for the people who were left in the land of Judah whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor.

²³Now when all the captains of the forces, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan the son of Kareah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men.

²⁴Gedaliah swore to them and to their men, and said to them, “Don’t be afraid because of the servants of the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you.”

²⁵But in the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal offspring came, and ten men with him, and struck Gedaliah so that he died, with the Jews and the Chaldeans that were with him at Mizpah.

²⁶All the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces arose and came to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

²⁷In the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, released Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison,

²⁸and he spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon,

²⁹and changed his prison garments. Jehoiachin ate bread before him continually all the days of his life;

³⁰and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him from the king, every day a portion, all the days of his life.

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2 Kings 25 records the final destruction of Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian forces in 586 BC. After an 18-month siege that brought severe famine, the city walls were breached, King Zedekiah was captured and brutally punished, and the temple and royal palace were burned. The chapter details the systematic dismantling of Solomon's temple treasures and the deportation of Jerusalem's population to Babylon, marking the end of the Davidic monarchy and the beginning of the Babylonian exile.

Context

This chapter concludes the book of 2 Kings by fulfilling the prophetic warnings of judgment that have echoed throughout the narrative since Solomon's apostasy.

Key Themes

Outline

1-7
Siege and Fall of Jerusalem Nebuchadnezzar besieges Jerusalem for 18 months, captures fleeing King Zedekiah, and executes his sons before blinding him
8-12
Destruction of the City Nebuzaradan burns the temple, palace, and houses, destroys the city walls, and deports most inhabitants to Babylon
13-17
Plundering of the Temple The Babylonians systematically remove and carry away all bronze, gold, and silver vessels from Solomon's temple
18-21
Execution of Leaders Key religious and political officials are taken to Riblah where Nebuchadnezzar has them executed
22-26
Gedaliah's Brief Governorship Nebuchadnezzar appoints Gedaliah as governor, but he is assassinated, causing remaining Jews to flee to Egypt
27-30
Jehoiachin's Release After 37 years in Babylonian prison, King Jehoiachin is released and given honor by the new Babylonian king

The Fall of Jerusalem and Babylonian Exile

25:1–25:30

narrative narration mournful

The fall of Jerusalem to Babylon, including the siege, destruction of the temple, and exile of the people as divine judgment for disobedience. This marks the end of the kingdom of Judah and fulfillment of prophetic warnings.

person_contrast

Nebuchadnezzar's systematic destruction unfolds through precise chronological markers—"ninth year," "tenth month," "tenth day"—transforming divine judgment into bureaucratic documentation of Israel's covenant failure.