rsv 2Kings:24-25 SEEK
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In his days Nebuchadnez '
zar king of Babylon came up ,
and Jehoi '
akim became his servant three years ;
then he turned and rebelled against him .
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And the LORD sent against him bands of the Chalde '
ans ,
and bands of the Syrians ,
and bands of the Moabites ,
and bands of the Ammonites ,
and sent them against Judah to destroy it ,
according to the word of the LORD which he spoke by his servants the prophets .
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Surely this came upon Judah at the command of the LORD ,
to remove them out of his sight ,
for the sins of Manas '
seh ,
according to all that he had done ,
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and also for the innocent blood that he had shed ;
for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood ,
and the LORD would not pardon .
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Now the rest of the deeds of Jehoi '
akim ,
and all that he did ,
are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah ?
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So Jehoi '
akim slept with his fathers ,
and Jehoi '
achin his son reigned in his stead .
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And the king of Egypt did not come again out of his land ,
for the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt from the Brook of Egypt to the river Euphra '
tes .
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Jehoi '
achin was eighteen years old when he became king ,
and he reigned three months in Jerusalem .
His mother '
s name was Nehush '
ta the daughter of Elna '
than of Jerusalem .
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And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD ,
according to all that his father had done .
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At that time the servants of Nebuchadnez '
zar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem ,
and the city was besieged .
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And Nebuchadnez '
zar king of Babylon came to the city ,
while his servants were besieging it ;
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and Jehoi '
achin the king of Judah gave himself up to the king of Babylon ,
himself ,
and his mother ,
and his servants ,
and his princes ,
and his palace officials .
The king of Babylon took him prisoner in the eighth year of his reign ,
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and carried off all the treasures of the house of the LORD ,
and the treasures of the king '
s house ,
and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold in the temple of the LORD ,
which Solomon king of Israel had made ,
as the LORD had foretold .
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He carried away all Jerusalem ,
and all the princes ,
and all the mighty men of valor ,
ten thousand captives ,
and all the craftsmen and the smiths ;
none remained ,
except the poorest people of the land .
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And he carried away Jehoi '
achin to Babylon ;
the king '
s mother ,
the king '
s wives ,
his officials ,
and the chief men of the land ,
he took into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon .
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And the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon all the men of valor ,
seven thousand ,
and the craftsmen and the smiths ,
one thousand ,
all of them strong and fit for war .
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And the king of Babylon made Mattani '
ah ,
Jehoi '
achin '
s uncle ,
king in his stead ,
and changed his name to Zedeki '
ah .
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Zedeki '
ah was twenty-one years old when he became king ,
and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem .
His mother '
s name was Hamu '
tal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah .
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And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD ,
according to all that Jehoi '
akim had done .
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For because of the anger of the LORD it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast them out from his presence .
And Zedeki '
ah rebelled against the king of Babylon .
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And in the ninth year of his reign ,
in the tenth month ,
on the tenth day of the month ,
Nebuchadnez '
zar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem ,
and laid siege to it ;
and they built siegeworks against it round about .
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So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedeki '
ah .
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On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land .
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Then a breach was made in the city ;
the king with all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls ,
by the king '
s garden ,
though the Chalde '
ans were around the city .
And they went in the direction of the Arabah .
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But the army of the Chalde '
ans pursued the king ,
and overtook him in the plains of Jericho ;
and all his army was scattered from him .
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Then they captured the king ,
and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah ,
who passed sentence upon him .
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They slew the sons of Zedeki '
ah before his eyes ,
and put out the eyes of Zedeki '
ah ,
and bound him in fetters ,
and took him to Babylon .
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In the fifth month ,
on the seventh day of the month--which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnez '
zar ,
king of Babylon--Nebu '
zarad '
an ,
the captain of the bodyguard ,
a servant of the king of Babylon ,
came to Jerusalem .
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And he burned the house of the LORD ,
and the king '
s house and all the houses of Jerusalem ;
every great house he burned down .
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And all the army of the Chalde '
ans ,
who were with the captain of the guard ,
broke down the walls around Jerusalem .
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And the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon ,
together with the rest of the multitude ,
Nebu '
zarad '
an the captain of the guard carried into exile .
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But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen .
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And the pillars of bronze that were in the house of the LORD ,
and the stands and the bronze sea that were in the house of the LORD ,
the Chalde '
ans broke in pieces ,
and carried the bronze to Babylon .
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And they took away the pots ,
and the shovels ,
and the snuffers ,
and the dishes for incense and all the vessels of bronze used in the temple service ,
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the firepans also ,
and the bowls .
What was of gold the captain of the guard took away as gold ,
and what was of silver ,
as silver .
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As for the two pillars ,
the one sea ,
and the stands ,
which Solomon had made for the house of the LORD ,
the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weight .
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The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits ,
and upon it was a capital of bronze ;
the height of the capital was three cubits ;
a network and pomegranates ,
all of bronze ,
were upon the capital round about .
And the second pillar had the like ,
with the network .
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And the captain of the guard took Serai '
ah the chief priest ,
and Zephani '
ah the second priest ,
and the three keepers of the threshold ;
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and from the city he took an officer who had been in command of the men of war ,
and five men of the king '
s council who were found in the city ;
and the secretary of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land ;
and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city .
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And Nebu '
zarad '
an the captain of the guard took them ,
and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah .
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And the king of Babylon smote them ,
and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath .
So Judah was taken into exile out of its land .
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And over the people who remained in the land of Judah ,
whom Nebuchadnez '
zar king of Babylon had left ,
he appointed Gedali '
ah the son of Ahi '
kam ,
son of Shaphan ,
governor .
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Now when all the captains of the forces in the open country and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedali '
ah governor ,
they came with their men to Gedali '
ah at Mizpah ,
namely ,
Ish '
mael the son of Nethani '
ah ,
and Joha '
nan the son of Kare '
ah ,
and Serai '
ah the son of Tanhu '
meth the Netoph '
athite ,
and Ja-azani '
ah the son of the Ma-ac '
athite .
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And Gedali '
ah swore to them and their men ,
saying , "
Do not be afraid because of the Chalde '
an officials ;
dwell in the land ,
and serve the king of Babylon ,
and it shall be well with you ."
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But in the seventh month ,
Ish '
mael the son of Nethani '
ah ,
son of Eli '
shama ,
of the royal family ,
came with ten men ,
and attacked and killed Gedali '
ah and the Jews and the Chalde '
ans who were with him at Mizpah .
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Then all the people ,
both small and great ,
and the captains of the forces arose ,
and went to Egypt ;
for they were afraid of the Chalde '
ans .
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And in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoi '
achin king of Judah ,
in the twelfth month ,
on the twenty-seventh day of the month ,
Evil-mero '
dach king of Babylon ,
in the year that he began to reign ,
graciously freed Jehoi '
achin king of Judah from prison ;
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and he spoke kindly to him ,
and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon .
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So Jehoi '
achin put off his prison garments .
And every day of his life he dined regularly at the king '
s table ;
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and for his allowance ,
a regular allowance was given him by the king ,
every day a portion ,
as long as he lived .