So in the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, on the tenth1 day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem2 with his whole army. They camped outside the city and built siege works3 all around it.45
The city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat.57
Then the city wall was broken through, and the whole army fled.6 They left the city at night through the gate between the two walls near the king's garden, though the Babyloniansa were surrounding the city. They fled toward the Arabah,b8
but the Babylonianc army pursued King Zedekiah and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered,
and he was captured.7 He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah8 in the land of Hamath,9 where he pronounced sentence on him.
There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons10 of Zedekiah before his eyes; he also killed all the officials of Judah.
Then he put out Zedekiah's eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon, where he put him in prison till the day of his death.1112
On the tenth day of the fifth12 month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan13 commander of the imperial guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
He set fire14 to the temple15 of the LORD, the royal palace and all the houses16 of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down.
The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the imperial guard broke down all the walls17 around Jerusalem.