2 Kings 25

KJV · Chapter 25/25

¹And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and all his host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it; and they built forts against it round about.

²And the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.

³And on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.

⁴And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the king’s garden: (now the Chaldees were against the city round about:) and the king went the way toward the plain.

⁵And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all his army were scattered from him.

⁶So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him.

⁷And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon.

⁸And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzar–adan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem:

⁹And he burnt the house of the Lord, and the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man’s house burnt he with fire.

¹⁰And all the army of the Chaldees, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about.

¹¹Now the rest of the people that were left in the city, and the fugitives that fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude, did Nebuzar–adan the captain of the guard carry away.

¹²But the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen.

¹³And the pillars of brass that were in the house of the Lord, and the bases, and the brasen sea that was in the house of the Lord, did the Chaldees break in pieces, and carried the brass of them to Babylon.

¹⁴And the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away.

¹⁵And the firepans, and the bowls, and such things as were of gold, in gold, and of silver, in silver, the captain of the guard took away.

¹⁶The two pillars, one sea, and the bases which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord; the brass of all these vessels was without weight.

¹⁷The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the chapiter upon it was brass: and the height of the chapiter three cubits; and the wreathen work, and pomegranates upon the chapiter round about, all of brass: and like unto these had the second pillar with wreathen work.

¹⁸And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the door:

¹⁹And out of the city he took an officer that was set over the men of war, and five men of them that were in the king’s presence, which were found in the city, and the principal scribe of the host, which mustered the people of the land, and threescore men of the people of the land that were found in the city:

²⁰And Nebuzar–adan captain of the guard took these, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah:

²¹And the king of Babylon smote them, and slew them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away out of their land.

²²And as for the people that remained 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, ruler.

²³And when all the captains of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, there came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Careah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men.

²⁴And Gedaliah sware to them, and to their men, and said unto them, Fear not to be the servants of the Chaldees: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon; and it shall be well with you.

²⁵But it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah, that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him at Mizpah.

²⁶And all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose, and came to Egypt: for they were afraid of the Chaldees.

²⁷And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evil–merodach king of Babylon in the year that he began to reign did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison;

²⁸And he spake kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon;

²⁹And changed his prison garments: and he did eat bread continually before him all the days of his life.

³⁰And his allowance was a continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life.

📖 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

2 Kings 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 Kings 25:2The siege of Jerusalem lasts until Zedekiah’s eleventh year — about a year and a half of continuous siege.
2 Kings 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.
2 Kings 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.
2 Kings 25:5The Chaldean army pursues the king and overtakes him on the plains of Jericho, and his whole army scatters, leaving him alone.
2 Kings 25:6They capture the king and bring him to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where he is judged.
2 Kings 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.
2 Kings 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.
2 Kings 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.
2 Kings 25:10The Chaldean army tears down the walls surrounding Jerusalem, completing the city’s physical destruction.
2 Kings 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.
2 Kings 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.
2 Kings 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.
2 Kings 25:14They also take the pots, shovels, snuffers, and all the bronze articles used in the temple’s service.
2 Kings 25:15The captain of the guard takes the firepans and basins, separating what was pure gold from what was pure silver.
2 Kings 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.
2 Kings 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.
2 Kings 25:18The captain of the guard arrests Seraiah, the high priest, Zephaniah, the second priest, and three doorkeepers of the temple.
2 Kings 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.
2 Kings 25:20Nebuzaradan takes all these prisoners to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
2 Kings 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.
2 Kings 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.
2 Kings 25:23On hearing of the appointment, the army captains still left, including Ishmael son of Nethaniah, go to Gedaliah at Mizpah.
2 Kings 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.
2 Kings 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.
2 Kings 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.
2 Kings 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.
2 Kings 25:28Evil-merodach speaks kindly to Jehoiachin and gives him a place of honor above the other exiled kings in Babylon.
2 Kings 25:29He changes Jehoiachin’s prison clothes, and Jehoiachin then eats regularly at the king’s table for the rest of his life.
2 Kings 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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