¹⁷ The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon.^(A) Nothing will be left, says the Lord.

¹⁸ And some of your descendants,^(A) your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”^(B)

¹⁰ At that time the officers of Nebuchadnezzar^(A) king of Babylon advanced on Jerusalem and laid siege to it, ¹¹ and Nebuchadnezzar himself came up to the city while his officers were besieging it. ¹² Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his attendants, his nobles and his officials all surrendered^(B) to him.

In the eighth year of the reign of the king of Babylon, he took Jehoiachin prisoner. ¹³ As the Lord had declared,^(C) Nebuchadnezzar removed the treasures^(D) from the temple of the Lord and from the royal palace, and cut up the gold articles^(E) that Solomon^(F) king of Israel had made for the temple of the Lord. ¹⁴ He carried all Jerusalem into exile:^(G) all the officers and fighting men,^(H) and all the skilled workers and artisans—a total of ten thousand. Only the poorest^(I) people of the land were left.

¹⁵ Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin^(J) captive to Babylon. He also took from Jerusalem to Babylon the king’s mother,^(K) his wives, his officials and the prominent people^(L) of the land. ¹⁶ The king of Babylon also deported to Babylon the entire force of seven thousand fighting men, strong and fit for war, and a thousand skilled workers and artisans.^(M)

¹¹ Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile^(A) the people who remained in the city, along with the rest of the populace and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon.^{(B) 12} But the commander left behind some of the poorest people^(C) of the land to work the vineyards and fields.

¹³ The Babylonians broke^(D) up the bronze pillars, the movable stands and the bronze Sea that were at the temple of the Lord and they carried the bronze to Babylon. ¹⁴ They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes^(E) and all the bronze articles^(F) used in the temple service. ¹⁵ The commander of the imperial guard took away the censers and sprinkling bowls—all that were made of pure gold or silver.^(G)

¹⁶ The bronze from the two pillars, the Sea and the movable stands, which Solomon had made for the temple of the Lord, was more than could be weighed. ¹⁷ Each pillar^(H) was eighteen cubits^[a] high. The bronze capital on top of one pillar was three cubits^[b] high and was decorated with a network and pomegranates of bronze all around. The other pillar, with its network, was similar.

¹⁸ The commander of the guard took as prisoners Seraiah^(I) the chief priest, Zephaniah^(J) the priest next in rank and the three doorkeepers.^{(K) 19} Of those still in the city, he took the officer in charge of the fighting men, and five royal advisers. He also took the secretary who was chief officer in charge of conscripting the people of the land and sixty of the conscripts who were found in the city. ²⁰ Nebuzaradan the commander took them all and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ²¹ There at Riblah,^(L) in the land of Hamath, the king had them executed.^(M)

So Judah went into captivity,^(N) away from her land.^(O)