Immerse: Prophets - Flipbook - Page 321
52:14-32
J eremiah
309
the plains of Jericho, for his men had all deserted him and scattered. They
captured the king and took him to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the
land of Hamath. There the king of Babylon pronounced judgment upon
Zedekiah. The king of Babylon made Zedekiah watch as he slaughtered
his sons. He also slaughtered all the officials of Judah at Riblah. Then he
gouged out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him in bronze chains, and the king
of Babylon led him away to Babylon. Zedekiah remained there in prison
until the day of his death.
On August 17 of that year, which was the nineteenth year of King Neb
uchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuz aradan, the captain of the guard and an offi
cial of the Babylonian king, arrived in Jerusalem. He burned down the
Temple of the Lord, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem.
He destroyed all the important buildings in the city. Then he supervised
the entire Babylonian army as they tore down the walls of Jerusalem on
every side. Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took as exiles
some of the poorest of the people, the rest of the people who remained
in the city, the defectors who had declared their allegiance to the king of
Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen. But Nebuz aradan allowed some
of the poorest people to stay behind to care for the vineyards and fields.
The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars in front of the Lord’s
Temple, the bronze water carts, and the great bronze basin called the
Sea, and they carried all the bronze away to Babylon. They also took all
the ash buckets, shovels, lamp snuffers, basins, dishes, and all the other
bronze articles used for making sacrifices at the Temple. The captain of the
guard also took the small bowls, incense burners, basins, pots, lampstands,
ladles, bowls used for liquid offerings, and all the other articles made of
pure gold or silver.
The weight of the bronze from the two pillars, the Sea with the twelve
bronze oxen beneath it, and the water carts was too great to be measured.
These things had been made for the Lord’s Temple in the days of King
Solomon. Each of the pillars was 27 feet tall and 18 feet in circumference.
They were hollow, with walls 3 inches thick. The bronze capital on top of
each pillar was 71/2 feet high and was decorated with a network of bronze
pomegranates all the way around. There were 96 pomegranates on the
sides, and a total of 100 pomegranates on the network around the top.
Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took with him as prisoners Se
raiah the high priest, Zephaniah the priest of the second rank, and the
three chief gatekeepers. And from among the people still hiding in the city,
he took an officer who had been in charge of the Judean army; seven of
the king’s personal advisers; the army commander’s chief secretary, who
was in charge of recruitment; and sixty other citizens. Nebuzaradan, the
captain of the guard, took them all to the king of Babylon at Riblah. And
