2 Reis 25

ARC · Chapter 25/25

1E succedeu que, no nono anno do seu reinado, no mez decimo, aos dez do mez, Nabucodonosor, rei de Babylonia, veiu contra Jerusalem, elle e todo o seu exercito, e se acampou contra ella, e levantaram contra ella tranqueiras em redor.

2E a cidade foi sitiada até ao undecimo anno do rei Zedekias.

3Aos nove do mez quarto, quando a cidade se via apertada da fome, nem havia pão para o povo da terra.

4Então a cidade foi arrombada, e todos os homens de guerra fugiram de noite pelo caminho da porta, entre os dois muros que estavam junto ao jardim do rei (porque os chaldeos estavam contra a cidade em redor), e o rei se foi pelo caminho da campina.

5Porém o exercito dos chaldeos perseguiu o rei, e o alcançaram nas campinas de Jericó: e todo o seu exercito se dispersou d'elle.

6E tomaram o rei, e o fizeram subir ao rei de Babylonia, a Ribla: e procederam contra elle.

7E aos filhos de Zedekias degolaram diante dos seus olhos: e vasaram os olhos a Zedekias, e o ataram com duas cadeias de bronze, e o levaram a Babylonia.

8E no quinto mez no setimo dia do mez (este era o anno decimo nono de Nabucodonosor rei de Babylonia), veiu Nebuzaradan, capitão da guarda, servo do rei de Babylonia, a Jerusalem,

9E queimou a casa do Senhor e a casa do rei, como tambem todas as casas de Jerusalem, e todas as casas dos grandes, queimou.

10E todo o exercito dos chaldeos, que estava com o capitão da guarda, derribou os muros em redor de Jerusalem.

11E o mais do povo que deixaram ficar na cidade, e os rebeldes que se renderam ao rei de Babylonia, e o mais da multidão, Nebuzaradan, o capitão da guarda, levou presos.

12Porém dos mais pobres da terra deixou o capitão da guarda ficar alguns para vinheiros e para lavradores.

13Quebraram mais os chaldeos as columnas de cobre que estavam na casa do Senhor, como tambem as bases e o mar de cobre que estavam na casa do Senhor: e levaram o seu bronze para Babylonia.

14Tambem tomaram as caldeiras, e as pás, e os apagadores, e os perfumadores, e todos os vasos de cobre, com que se ministrava.

15Tambem o capitão da guarda tomou os braseiros, e as bacias, o que era de puro oiro, em oiro e o que era de prata, em prata.

16As duas columnas, um mar, e as bases, que Salomão fizera para a casa do Senhor: o cobre de todos estes vasos não tinha peso.

17A altura d'uma columna era de dezoito covados, e sobre ella havia um capitel de cobre, e de altura tinha o capitel tres covados; e a rede, e as romãs em roda do capitel, tudo era de cobre; e similhante a esta era a outra columna com a rede.

18Tambem o capitão da guarda tomou a Seraias, primeiro sacerdote, e a Zephanias segundo sacerdote, e aos tres guardas do umbral da porta.

19E da cidade tomou a um eunucho, que tinha cargo da gente de guerra, e a cinco homens dos que viam a face do rei, e se acharam na cidade, como tambem ao escrivão-mór do exercito, que registrava o povo da terra para a guerra, e a sessenta homens do povo da terra, que se acharam na cidade.

20E tomando-os Nebuzaradan, o capitão da guarda, os trouxe ao rei de Babylonia, a Ribla.

21E o rei de Babylonia os feriu e os matou em Ribla, na terra de Hamath: e Judah foi levado preso para fóra da sua terra.

22Porém, quanto ao povo que ficava na terra de Judah, e Nabucodonosor, rei de Babylonia, deixou ficar, poz sobre elle por maioral a Gedalias, filho de Ahikam, filho de Saphan.

23Ouvindo pois os capitães dos exercitos, elles e os seus homens, que o rei de Babylonia puzera a Gedalias por maioral, vieram a Gedalias, a Mispah, a saber: Ishmael, filho de Nethanias, e Johanan, filho de Kareath, e Seraias, filho de Tanhumeth, o netophatita, e Jazanias, filho do Maacatita, elles e os seus homens.

24E Gedalias jurou a elles e aos seus homens, e lhes disse: Não temaes ser servos dos chaldeos: ficae na terra, e servi ao rei de Babylonia, e bem vos irá.

25Succedeu, porém, que, no setimo mez, veiu Ishmael, filho de Nethanias, o filho de Elisama, da semente real, e dez homens com elle, e feriram a Gedalias, e elle morreu, como tambem aos judeos, e aos chaldeos que estavam com elle em Mispah.

26Então todo o povo se levantou, desde o mais pequeno até ao maior, como tambem os capitães dos exercitos, e vieram ao Egypto, porque temiam os chaldeos.

27Depois d'isto succedeu que, no anno trinta e sete do captiveiro de Joaquim, rei de Judah, no mez duodecimo, aos vinte e sete do mez, Evil-*merodac, rei de Babylonia, levantou, no anno em que reinou, a cabeça de Joaquim, rei de Judah, da casa da prisão.

28E lhe fallou benignamente: e poz o seu throno acima do throno dos reis que estavam com elle em Babylonia.

29E lhe mudou os vestidos da prisão, e de continuo comeu pão na sua presença todos os dias da sua vida.

30E, quanto á sua subsistencia, pelo rei lhe foi dada subsistencia continua, a porção de cada dia no seu dia, todos os dias da sua vida.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Nebuchadnezzar completely destroys Jerusalem and the temple after a brutal siege, blinding King Zedekiah right after killing his sons before his eyes. Most of the population is deported to Babylon. The book closes on a note of hope: the exiled king Jehoiachin is released from prison and treated with honor at the Babylonian court.

Explanation

This is the lowest point in Israel's history as told in the historical books: the complete destruction of Solomon's temple and the end of the independent Davidic monarchy, exactly as Solomon had prophesied in his dedication prayer (1 Kings 9) and as generations of prophets had warned. Zedekiah's blinding, with the death of his own sons being the last thing he ever sees, is one of the most tragic and symbolic endings in the whole biblical historical narrative. Even so, the book deliberately closes on a subtle note of hope: Jehoiachin, still a descendant of David, is honored in Babylon, a sign that the Davidic promise, though severely tested, had not been completely snuffed out.

Fun facts

  • Jehoiachin's release from Babylonian prison, mentioned in the book's final paragraph, takes place under King Evil-Merodach (Amel-Marduk), whose existence and brief reign (562-560 B.C.) are confirmed by independent Babylonian cuneiform tablets.
  • The book's seemingly small, personal ending, an exiled king given a seat of honor, is read by many scholars as an intentional literary sign of messianic hope: David's line survives physically even in the midst of exile, paving the way for a future restoration.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 2 Reis 25:1The siege begins in Zedekiah’s ninth year and is only broken in the eleventh, nearly eighteen months of blockade. That whole stretch of time completely exhausts the city’s food supplies before the wall is finally breached.
  2. 2 Reis 25:2The siege of Jerusalem lasts until Zedekiah’s eleventh year — about a year and a half of continuous siege.
  3. 2 Reis 25:3On the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine inside the city was already so severe that there was no more bread for the people.
  4. 2 Reis 25:4The wall is finally breached; the soldiers flee by night through a gate between two walls near the king’s garden, while the Chaldeans surround the city, and the king flees toward the plain.
  5. 2 Reis 25:5The Chaldean army pursues the king and overtakes him on the plains of Jericho, and his whole army scatters, leaving him alone.
  6. 2 Reis 25:6They capture the king and bring him to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where he is judged.
  7. 2 Reis 25:7This was a common practice of humiliation and punishment against rebellious kings in the ancient Near East. The last thing Zedekiah sees before being blinded is the execution of his own sons, also ensuring that no direct heir of his could ever claim the throne afterward.
  8. 2 Reis 25:8This fire marks the physical end of the temple Solomon had built centuries earlier. The same building described in detail in 1 Kings 6 and 7 ends here reduced to rubble, almost four hundred years after it was raised.
  9. 2 Reis 25:9Nebuzaradan burns the house of the Lord, the royal palace, and every house in Jerusalem, including the houses of the city’s great men.
  10. 2 Reis 25:10The Chaldean army tears down the walls surrounding Jerusalem, completing the city’s physical destruction.
  11. 2 Reis 25:11The rest of the people still in the city, including those who had already surrendered to Babylon, are carried off as prisoners by Nebuzaradan.
  12. 2 Reis 25:12Only the poorest of the land are left behind to work as vinedressers and farmers — practically no one of social standing is left in Judah.
  13. 2 Reis 25:13The Chaldeans break up the bronze pillars, the stands, and the great bronze tank of the temple, carrying all the metal off to Babylon.
  14. 2 Reis 25:14They also take the pots, shovels, snuffers, and all the bronze articles used in the temple’s service.
  15. 2 Reis 25:15The captain of the guard takes the firepans and basins, separating what was pure gold from what was pure silver.
  16. 2 Reis 25:16The bronze of the two pillars, the tank, and the stands that Solomon had made for the temple was so much that it could not even be weighed — a loss on a monumental scale.
  17. 2 Reis 25:17One pillar stood eighteen cubits high, with a bronze capital on top decorated with three cubits of network and pomegranates; the other pillar matched it — a detailed inventory of what was now destroyed.
  18. 2 Reis 25:18The captain of the guard arrests Seraiah, the high priest, Zephaniah, the second priest, and three doorkeepers of the temple.
  19. 2 Reis 25:19From the city he also arrests an officer in charge of the soldiers, five of the king’s advisors, the chief scribe of the army, and sixty men of the common people.
  20. 2 Reis 25:20Nebuzaradan takes all these prisoners to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
  21. 2 Reis 25:21The king of Babylon has all of them executed at Riblah; and so Judah (the south) is carried off into exile, away from its own land — the formal end of the kingdom.
  22. 2 Reis 25:22Over the people left in Judah, Nebuchadnezzar appoints Gedaliah, grandson of the scribe Shaphan (the same one from Josiah’s reform), as local governor.
  23. 2 Reis 25:23On hearing of the appointment, the army captains still left, including Ishmael son of Nethaniah, go to Gedaliah at Mizpah.
  24. 2 Reis 25:24Gedaliah swears to them that they need not fear serving the Chaldeans, promising that all will go well if they stay in the land and serve Babylon.
  25. 2 Reis 25:25In the seventh month, Ishmael, of royal blood, arrives with ten men and kills Gedaliah, along with the Jews and Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah — destroying the last attempt at local government.
  26. 2 Reis 25:26Afraid of Chaldean retaliation, all the people who were left, from the least to the greatest, together with the army captains, flee to Egypt.
  27. 2 Reis 25:27The book ends on a quiet note of hope: decades after the exile began, a new king of Babylon releases the former king of Judah from prison and gives him a place of honor. It is an open-ended finish, suggesting that the story of David’s line was not yet fully over.
  28. 2 Reis 25:28Evil-merodach speaks kindly to Jehoiachin and gives him a place of honor above the other exiled kings in Babylon.
  29. 2 Reis 25:29He changes Jehoiachin’s prison clothes, and Jehoiachin then eats regularly at the king’s table for the rest of his life.
  30. 2 Reis 25:30Jehoiachin receives from the king a regular daily allowance guaranteed for the rest of his life — the small spark of hope that closes the book: even in exile, a descendant of David is treated with dignity.

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