Jeremiah 49-52

New Life Version

God Speaks through Jeremiah about Ammon

49 About the sons of Ammon, the Lord says, “Does Israel have no sons? Does she have no one to receive what she leaves? Why then has Malcam taken Gad as his own? Why do his people live in its cities? ² But the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when I will blow a horn giving the sound of war against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon. And it will become a waste. Its towns will be set on fire. Then Israel will take the land from those who had taken it from her,” says the Lord.

³ “Cry out, O Heshbon, for Ai has been destroyed! Cry out, O people of Rabbah. Put on clothes made from hair and cry in sorrow. And run this way and that way inside the walls. For Malcam will go to a strange land, together with his religious leaders and his important men. ⁴ How you speak in pride about the valleys! Your valley is flowing away, O daughter without faith who trusts in her riches, saying, ‘Who will come against me?’ ⁵ I will bring much trouble upon you,” says the Lord God of All. “It will come from all around you, and each of you will be driven away. There will be no one to gather together those who run for their lives. ⁶ But after this I will return the sons of Ammon to their land,” says the Lord.

God Speaks through Jeremiah about Edom

⁷ About Edom, the Lord of All says, “Is there no longer any wisdom in Teman? Have wise words been lost from the wise? Is their wisdom all gone? ⁸ Run away! Turn back and live in the deep places, O people of Dedan. For I will bring the trouble of Esau upon him when I punish him. ⁹ If those who gather grapes came to you, would they not leave some grapes behind? If robbers came during the night, would they not take only what was enough for them? ¹⁰ But I have taken all that Esau has. I have taken the covering from his hiding places so that he will not be able to hide himself. His children, his brothers, and his neighbors are destroyed. And he is no more. ¹¹ Leave your children behind, who have lost their parents, and I will keep them alive. And let your women whose husbands have died trust in Me.” ¹² For the Lord says, “If those who were not to drink the cup must drink it, will you go without being punished? You will not go without being punished, but you must drink it. ¹³ For I have promised by Myself,” says the Lord, “that Bozrah will become an object of trouble, a shame, a waste, and a curse. All its cities will be destroyed forever.”

¹⁴ I have heard word from the Lord. A man with news is sent among the nations, saying, “Gather together and come against her! Rise up for battle! ¹⁵ For I have made you small among the nations, hated among men. ¹⁶ As for the fear you have caused, the pride of your heart has fooled you, O you who live in the holes of rocks, who live on the top of the hill. Even if you make your nest as high as an eagle’s, I will bring you down from there,” says the Lord. ¹⁷ ‘Edom will become an object of trouble. Everyone who passes by will be surprised and will make fun of all its suffering. ¹⁸ As when Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors were destroyed, no one will live there,” says the Lord. “No man will live there. ¹⁹ One will come up like a lion from the trees by the Jordan to rich grass fields. All at once I will make him run away from Edom. And I will make whoever I choose rule over it. For who is like Me? Who will call Me into court? What shepherd can stand against Me?”

²⁰ So hear the plan the Lord has made against Edom. Listen to His plans which He has made against the people of Teman. Even the little ones of the flock will be pulled away. For sure He will make their fields an empty waste because of them. ²¹ The earth will shake at the sound of their fall. The sound of their cry will be heard at the Red Sea. ²² See, one will come and fly down in a hurry like an eagle. He will spread out his wings against Bozrah. In that day the hearts of the strong men of Edom will be like the heart of a woman giving birth.

God Speaks through Jeremiah about Damascus

²³ About Damascus, He says, “Hamath and Arpad are troubled, for they have heard bad news. Their hearts have become weak. They are troubled like the sea which cannot be quiet. ²⁴ Damascus has become weak. She has turned to run away. Fear has taken hold of her. Pain and sorrows have taken hold of her like a woman giving birth. ²⁵ Why does the city of praise, the town of My joy, still have people in it? ²⁶ For sure her young men will fall in her streets. And all the men of war will be destroyed in that day,” says the Lord of All. ²⁷ “I will set fire to the wall of Damascus. And it will burn up the strong towers of Ben-hadad.”

God Speaks through Jeremiah about Kedar and Hazor

²⁸ About Kedar and the nations of Hazor, which were beaten in battle by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Lord says, “Get up and go to Kedar, and destroy the men of the east. ²⁹ Their tents and their flocks will be taken. Their tent curtains, and all their good things, and their camels will be carried away for themselves. And men will call out to them, ‘Trouble is on every side!’ ³⁰ Run! Run far away! Live in the deep places, O people of Hazor,” says the Lord. “For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has made a plan against you. He has thought of a way to hurt you. ³¹ Get up and go to fight against a nation which is at rest and lives without fear,” says the Lord. “It has no gates with pieces of iron. And its people live alone. ³² Their camels and their many cattle will become a prize of war. I will send everywhere to the winds those who are in the farthest places. I will bring trouble to them from every side,” says the Lord. ³³ “Hazor will become a place where wild dogs live, a waste place forever. No man will live there, and no man will stay there.”

God Speaks through Jeremiah about Elam

³⁴ This is the Word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the man of God about Elam, at the beginning of the rule of King Zedekiah of Judah, saying, ³⁵ “The Lord of All says, ‘I will break the bow of Elam, the best of their strength. ³⁶ I will bring the four winds to Elam from the four ends of heaven. And I will have these winds send them everywhere. There will not be a nation to which the people sent out of Elam will not go. ³⁷ I will fill Elam with fear in front of those who hate them and want to kill them. I will bring much trouble upon them, even My burning anger,’ says the Lord. ‘I will send the sword after them until I have destroyed them. ³⁸ Then I will set My throne in Elam, and will destroy their kings and leaders,’ says the Lord. ³⁹ ‘But in the last days I will return the people of Elam to their land,’” says the Lord.

God Speaks through Jeremiah about Babylon

50 The word which the Lord spoke about Babylon, the land of the Babylonians, through Jeremiah the man of God: ² “Make it known among the nations. Lift up a flag and make it known. Do not hide it, but say, ‘Babylon has been taken. Bel has been put to shame. Marduk has been broken down. Her objects of worship have been put to shame. Her false gods have been broken down.’ ³ For a nation has come up against her from the north. It will make her land an empty waste, and no one will live in it. Both man and animal will run away.

⁴ “In those days and at that time,” says the Lord, “the sons of Israel will come, together with the sons of Judah. They will cry as they come, and will be looking for the Lord their God. ⁵ They will ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, saying, ‘Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord in an agreement that lasts forever, one that will never be forgotten.’

⁶ “My people have become lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them the wrong way. They have made them turn away on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill and have forgotten their resting place. ⁷ All who found them have destroyed them. Those who hate them have said, ‘We are not guilty, for they have sinned against the Lord, their true resting place Who is right and good, the hope of their fathers.’ ⁸ Run out of Babylon. Go from the land of the Babylonians. Be like male goats that go before the flock. ⁹ For I am going to raise up and bring against Babylon a group of great nations from the land of the north. They will come ready for battle against her, and she will be taken. Their arrows will be like an able soldier who does not return with empty hands. ¹⁰ Babylon will become a prize of war. All who take things from her will have enough,” says the Lord.

Babylon Is Punished

¹¹ “You are glad and full of joy, O you who take what belongs to My people. You play around like a young cow in grain, and sound like strong horses. Because of this, ¹² your mother will be very ashamed. She who gave birth to you will be put to shame. She will be the least of the nations, a wilderness, a waste, and a desert. ¹³ Because of the Lord’s anger no people will live there. She will be left with no people. Everyone who passes by Babylon will be surprised, and will make fun of her because of her sores. ¹⁴ Come up for battle against Babylon on every side, all you who use the bow. Shoot at her. Do not save any of your arrows, for she has sinned against the Lord. ¹⁵ Raise your battle cry against her on every side. She has given herself up. Her strong pillars have fallen. Her walls have been torn down. Since this is the punishment of the Lord, punish her. Do to her as she has done to others. ¹⁶ Cut off from Babylon the one who plants seeds and the one who cuts the grain at gathering time. Because of the sword of the one who makes it hard for them, everyone will return to his own people. Each one will run to his own land.

Israel Is Like a Flock of Sheep

¹⁷ “Israel is like sheep sent everywhere, driven away by lions. The first one who destroyed Israel was the king of Assyria. And the last one who has broken his bones is Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. ¹⁸ So the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says: ‘I am going to punish the king of Babylon and his land, just as I punished the king of Assyria. ¹⁹ I will return Israel to his field, and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan. And his desire will be filled in the hill country of Ephraim and Gilead. ²⁰ In those days and at that time,’ says the Lord, ‘sin will be looked for in Israel, but there will be none. And sin will be looked for in Judah, but it will not be found. For I will forgive those whom I allow to return.’

Words about Babylon

²¹ “Go up against the land of Merathaim, and against the people of Pekod. Kill and destroy all of them,” says the Lord, “and do all that I have told you. ²² The noise of battle is in the land, and much is destroyed. ²³ How the strong one of the whole earth has been cut off and broken! Babylon has become a complete waste among the nations! ²⁴ I set a trap for you, and you were caught, O Babylon, and you did not know it. You have been found and caught, because you have fought against the Lord.” ²⁵ The Lord has opened His store-house and has brought out the swords of His anger. For the Lord, the God of All, has work to do in the land of the Babylonians. ²⁶ Come to her from the farthest land. Open her store-houses. Gather her up like grain, and destroy all of her. Let nothing be left of her. ²⁷ Kill all her young bulls. Let them go down to be killed. It is bad for them, for their day has come, the time of their punishment. ²⁸ Listen! They are running from the land of Babylon to tell in Zion about the punishment of the Lord our God. They are telling how the Lord punishes those who destroyed His house of worship.

²⁹ “Call all those who use the bow to fight against Babylon. Gather around her on every side. Let no one get away. Pay her back for what she did. Do to her all that she has done. For she has been proud against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel. ³⁰ So her young men will fall in her streets. And all her men of war will be made quiet in that day,” says the Lord. ³¹ “See, I am against you, O proud one,” says the Lord God of All. “For your day has come, the time when I will punish you. ³² The proud one will trip and fall with no one to help him up. I will set fire to his cities, and it will burn up all that is around him.” ³³ The Lord of All says, “The sons of Israel and the sons of Judah are troubled and are held under a bad power. All who took them away in chains have held on to them. They have not been willing to let them go. ³⁴ The One Who saves and makes them free is strong. The Lord of All is His name. He will work hard for their cause, so that He may give rest to the land. But He will not give rest to the people of Babylon. ³⁵ A sword is against the Babylonians,” says the Lord, “and against the people of Babylon, and against her leaders and her wise men! ³⁶ A sword is against her religious leaders who are false and lie. They will become fools! A sword is against her strong men, and they will be filled with fear! ³⁷ A sword is against her horses and war-wagons, and against all the soldiers from other lands who are with her! They will become like women! A sword is against her riches, and they will be taken! ³⁸ A time of no rain and her waters will be dried up! For it is a land of false gods. They are wild over false gods. ³⁹ So the desert animals will live there together with the wild dogs. And ostriches also will live in it. Never again will people live there. ⁴⁰ As when God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities,” says the Lord, “no man will live there. And no man will stay there.

⁴¹ “See, a nation is coming from the north. A great nation and many kings are moving from the farthest parts of the earth. ⁴² They take hold of their bow and spear. They fight without pity. Their voice sounds like the sea. And they ride on horses, dressed ready for battle against you, O people of Babylon. ⁴³ The king of Babylon has heard the news about them, and his hands hang without strength. Suffering has taken hold of him, like the pain of a woman giving birth.

⁴⁴ “One will come up like a lion from the trees by the Jordan to rich grass fields. All at once I will make the people run away from Babylon. And I will make whoever I choose to rule over it. For who is like Me? Who will call Me into court? What shepherd can stand before Me?” ⁴⁵ So hear the plan which the Lord has made against Babylon. Listen to His plans which He has made against the land of the Babylonians. Even the little ones of the flock will be taken away. He will make their fields an empty waste because of them. ⁴⁶ At the cry, “Babylon has been taken!” the earth will shake, and the cry will be heard among the nations.

Babylon Is Destroyed

51 The Lord says, “See, I will raise up the spirit of a destroyer against Babylon and against the people of Chaldea. ² I will send strangers to destroy Babylon like a wind that blows straw away. For they will be against her on every side and leave her land empty in the day of her trouble. ³ Do not let the bow-man use his bow. Do not let him stand up in his heavy battle-clothes. Do not leave her young men alive, but destroy all of her army. ⁴ They will fall down dead in the land of Babylon and be killed in their streets.”

⁵ For Israel and Judah have not been left alone by their God, the Lord of All, even though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel. ⁶ Run away from Babylon! Let every man save his life! Do not be destroyed in her punishment, for it is time for the Lord to punish her. He will make her pay for her sins. ⁷ Babylon has been a gold cup in the Lord’s hand, making all the earth drunk. The nations have drunk her wine, and so the nations have gone wild. ⁸ All at once Babylon has fallen and been broken. Cry over her with a loud voice. Bring healing oil for her pain. It may be that she will be healed. ⁹ We would have healed Babylon, but she was not healed. Leave her alone, and let each of us go to his own country. For she is being judged from as far as heaven and lifted even to the skies. ¹⁰ The Lord has taken our guilt away. Come and let us make the work of the Lord our God known in Zion.

¹¹ Make the arrows sharp! Take the body-coverings! The Lord has moved the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because He is planning to destroy Babylon. It is the punishment of the Lord, the punishment for what was done to His house of worship. ¹² Lift up a flag on the walls of Babylon. Have many keep watch. Put the watchmen in their places. And get men ready to fight against her by surprise. For the Lord has both planned and done what He said about the people of Babylon. ¹³ O you who live by many waters and have many riches, your end has come. Your life is being cut off. ¹⁴ The Lord of All has promised by Himself, saying, “For sure I will fill you with men, as with many locusts. And they will call out that they have won the war against you.”

A Song of Praise

¹⁵ He made the earth by His power. He made the world by His wisdom. And by His understanding He spread out the heavens. ¹⁶ When He speaks, there is a storm of waters in the heavens. He makes the clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and brings the wind from His store-houses. ¹⁷ No man thinks well, and he is without learning. Every man who works with gold is put to shame by his false gods. For the objects of worship that he makes are false, and there is no breath in them. ¹⁸ They are of no worth, a false show. At the time of their punishment they will be destroyed. ¹⁹ He Who is the Share of Jacob is not like these. For He is the Maker of All. And Israel is the family who receives His gifts. The Lord of All is His name.

²⁰ He says, “You are My battle-ax which I use in war. With you I destroy countries. With you I destroy nations. ²¹ With you I break in pieces the horse and its rider. ²² With you I destroy the war-wagon and its driver. With you I destroy man and woman. With you I destroy old man and boy. With you I destroy young man and young woman. ²³ With you I destroy the shepherd and his flock. With you I destroy the farmer and his oxen. And with you I destroy rulers and captains.

Babylon Is Punished

²⁴ “I will punish Babylon and all the people of Chaldea for all their sins that they have done in Zion in front of your eyes,” says the Lord. ²⁵ “See, I am against you, O destroying mountain, who destroys the whole earth,” says the Lord. “I will put out My hand against you and roll you down from the high rocks. I will make you a burned-out mountain. ²⁶ Not even a stone will be taken from you for a corner stone, or a stone to be used to build upon. But you will be a waste forever,” says the Lord.

²⁷ Lift up a flag in the land! Sound the horn among the nations! Make the nations ready to fight against Babylon. Call against her the nations of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Choose a captain to go against her. Bring up the horses like many locusts. ²⁸ Make the nations ready to fight against her. Make ready the kings of the Medes, their rulers and captains, and every land under their rule. ²⁹ The land shakes and moves in its pain. For the Lord’s plans against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a waste land without people. ³⁰ The powerful soldiers of Babylon have stopped fighting. They stay in their strong-places. Their strength is gone. They have become like women. Their houses are set on fire, and the iron parts of her gates are broken. ³¹ One man with news runs to meet another, and he runs to meet another. They run to tell the king of Babylon that his city has been taken from end to end. ³² The ways to cross the river have been stopped. The water grass has been burned with fire. And the soldiers are filled with fear.

³³ The Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, “The daughter of Babylon is like the grain floor when it is being stepped on and made hard. In a little while her gathering time will come.”

³⁴ “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has destroyed me, and has crushed me. He has made me like an empty pot. He has eaten me up like a large, angry animal. He has filled his stomach with my good food, and he has washed me away. ³⁵ May the hurt done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,” the person living in Zion will say. “May my blood be upon the people of Babylon,” Jerusalem will say.

³⁶ So the Lord says, “See, I will help you in your cause and punish Babylon for you. I will dry up her sea, and make her well dry. ³⁷ Babylon will become a waste place, a place where wild dogs live. She will be an object of trouble and hate, where no people live. ³⁸ Together the people of Babylon make noise like young lions. They sound like a lion’s young ones. ³⁹ But when they are hot, I will give them a special supper and make them drunk. Then they will be happy and fall asleep, and will never wake up,” says the Lord. ⁴⁰ “I will bring them down like lambs to be killed, like rams and male goats.

Babylon Is Destroyed

⁴¹ “How Babylon has been taken, the praise of the whole earth taken! How Babylon has become an object of trouble among the nations! ⁴² The sea has come up over Babylon. She has been covered with its many big waves. ⁴³ Her cities have become an object of trouble, a dry land and a desert. It is a land where no man lives, and where no man passes through. ⁴⁴ And I will punish the false god of Bel in Babylon. I will make what he has eaten come out of his mouth. The nations will no longer come to him. The wall of Babylon will fall.

⁴⁵ “Come out of her, My people. Save yourselves from the burning anger of the Lord. ⁴⁶ Do not let your heart become weak. Do not be afraid at the news that will be heard in the land. For news will come this year, and other news will come the next. There will be fighting in the land, with ruler against ruler. ⁴⁷ So the days are coming when I will punish the false gods of Babylon. Her whole land will be put to shame, and all her dead will fall within her. ⁴⁸ Then heaven and earth and all that is in them will call out for joy over Babylon. For the destroyers will come to her from the north,” says the Lord.

⁴⁹ Babylon must fall because of the dead of Israel, just as the dead of all the earth have fallen because of Babylon. ⁵⁰ You who have not been killed by the sword, go! Do not stay! Remember the Lord from far away, and think of Jerusalem. ⁵¹ We are ashamed because much has been said against us. Our faces are covered with shame, for strangers have gone into the holy places of the Lord’s house.

⁵² “But the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when I will punish her false gods. And those who are hurt will cry in pain through all her land. ⁵³ Even if Babylon rises to the heavens and makes her high place strong, I will send destroyers against her,” says the Lord.

⁵⁴ The sound of a cry comes from Babylon! A noise comes from the land of the Babylonians because much is being destroyed! ⁵⁵ For the Lord will destroy Babylon. He will quiet her loud voice. Their waves will sound like many waters, and the noise of their voices is loud. ⁵⁶ For the destroyer is coming against Babylon, and her strong men will be taken. Their bows are broken. For the Lord is a God Who makes the sinner pay for his sin, and He will be sure to punish. ⁵⁷ “I will make her leaders and her wise men, her rulers, her captains, and her strong men of war drunk. Then they will fall asleep and never wake up,” says the King, Whose name is the Lord of All. ⁵⁸ The Lord of All says, “The wide wall of Babylon will be broken to the ground. Her high gates will be set on fire. So the people will work hard for nothing, and because of the fire nations become tired.”

Jeremiah’s Word Gets to Babylon

⁵⁹ This is the word which Jeremiah the man of God told Seraiah the son of Neriah, the grandson of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his rule. Seraiah was the head captain of the house. ⁶⁰ Jeremiah wrote in a book all the trouble that would come upon Babylon. He wrote down all these words which have been written about Babylon. ⁶¹ Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “As soon as you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words out loud. ⁶² And say, ‘O Lord, You have said that this place will be destroyed, so that there will be nothing living in it, not man or animal. It is to be a waste place forever.’ ⁶³ When you have finished reading this book, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates River. ⁶⁴ And say, ‘In this way Babylon will go down and not rise again, because of the trouble I am going to bring upon her. And her people will fall.’” The words of Jeremiah end here.

Jerusalem Destroyed

52 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled for eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. ² Zedekiah did what was sinful in the eyes of the Lord, like all that Jehoiakim had done. ³ The Lord became so angry with Jerusalem and Judah that He had them sent away from Him. And Zedekiah turned against the king of Babylon.

⁴ On the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year of his rule, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came with all his army to fight against Jerusalem. His soldiers gathered outside the city and built a battle-wall all around it. ⁵ So the city was shut in by the army of the Babylonians until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. ⁶ On the ninth day of the fourth month, the hunger became very bad in the city. There was no food for the people of the land. ⁷ Then the city was broken into, and all the men of war ran away. They left the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls, by the king’s garden, while the Babylonians were all around the city. They went by way of the Arabah. ⁸ But the Babylonian army went after King Zedekiah and came to him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was divided and ran away from him. ⁹ They took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath. And he decided what Zedekiah’s punishment would be. ¹⁰ The king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah in front of his eyes. He killed all the leaders of Judah in Riblah. ¹¹ Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, put him in chains of brass, and took him to Babylon. There he was put in prison until the day of his death.

The House of God Destroyed

¹² On the tenth day of the fifth month in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan came to Jerusalem. Nebuzaradan was the captain of the prison soldiers and served the king of Babylon. ¹³ And he burned the house of the Lord, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He burned down every great house. ¹⁴ The whole Babylonian army that was with the captain of the prison soldiers broke down all the walls around Jerusalem. ¹⁵ Then Nebuzaradan, captain of the prison soldiers, carried away to Babylon some of the poorest of the people, the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had joined the king of Babylon, and the rest of the able workmen. ¹⁶ But Nebuzaradan left some of the poorest people of the land to take care of the vines and fields.

¹⁷ The Babylonians broke in pieces the brass pillars which belonged to the house of the Lord, and the stands and the brass pool which were in the Lord’s house. And they carried all the brass to Babylon. ¹⁸ They also took away the pots, the tools, the objects for putting out the lamps, the washing pots, the dishes for special perfume, and all the brass objects used in the work of the Lord’s house. ¹⁹ The captain of the prison soldiers also took away the deep dishes, the fire holders, the washing pots, the other pots, the lamp-stands, the dishes for special perfume, and the dishes for drink gifts, that were made of fine gold and fine silver. ²⁰ He took the two pillars, the brass pool, the twelve brass bulls that were under the pool, and the stands, which King Solomon had made for the house of the Lord. The brass of all these objects was too heavy to weigh. ²¹ Each pillar was five times taller than a man, as long around as six long steps, as wide as four fingers, and empty inside. ²² Its top part was brass and as tall as a man can raise his hand, with a network and pomegranates all around the top part, all made of brass. The second pillar with its pomegranates was the same. ²³ There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides. There were one hundred pomegranates on the network all around.

The People Taken to Babylon

²⁴ Then the captain of the prison soldiers took Seraiah, the head religious leader, and Zephaniah, the second religious leader, and the three door keepers of the Lord’s house. ²⁵ He also took from the city one captain who had been over the men of war, and seven of the king’s wise men who were found in the city. He took the writer who worked for the captain of the army, who called together the people of the land. And he took sixty men of the land who were found in the city. ²⁶ Nebuzaradan the captain of the prison soldiers took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah, ²⁷ and the king of Babylon killed them. He put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was led out of its land in chains.

²⁸ These are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away to Babylon: In the seventh year he took 3,023 Jews. ²⁹ In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he took 832 people from Jerusalem. ³⁰ In the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the prison soldiers took away 745 Jews. There were 4,600 people taken away in all.

³¹ On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month in the thirty-seventh year since King Jehoiachin of Judah was taken away to Babylon, Evilmerodach king of Babylon showed favor to Jehoiachin king of Judah. It was the first year of his rule, and he brought Jehoiachin out of prison. ³² He spoke to him with kindness, and gave him a seat of honor higher than the other kings who were with him in Babylon. ³³ So Jehoiachin changed from his prison clothes, and ate with the king every day for the rest of his life. ³⁴ And a share of money was given to him by the king of Babylon every day as long as he lived, until the day of his death.