Babylon

The king of Ashur brought people from Bavel, Kutah, 'Ava, Hamat and S'farvayim and settled them in the cities of Shomron in place of the people of Isra'el; they took possession of Shomron and lived in its cities.

Thus the people from Bavel made Sukkot-B'not, those from Kutah made Nergal, those from Hamat made Ashima,

B'rodakh-Bal'adan the son of Bal'adan, king of Bavel, heard that Hizkiyahu had been ill, so he sent a letter and a gift to him.

Then Yesha'yahu the prophet came to King Hizkiyahu and asked him, "What did these men say? Where did they come from?" Hizkiyahu answered, "They came from a distant country, Bavel."

'The day will come when everything in your palace, along with everything your ancestors stored up until today, will be carried off to Bavel. Nothing will be left,' says ADONAI.

'They will carry off some of your descendants, your own offspring; and they will be made eunuchs serving in the palace of the king of Bavel.'"

It was in Y'hoyakim's time that N'vukhadnetzar king of Bavel invaded. Y'hoyakim became his vassal for three years, but then he turned against him and rebelled.

The king of Egypt did not leave his own land any more, because the king of Bavel had captured all the territory of the king of Egypt between the Vadi of Egypt and the Euphrates River.

It was then that the officers of N'vukhadnetzar king of Bavel marched on Yerushalayim and laid siege to the city.

N'vukhadnetzar king of Bavel himself went to the city while it was under siege;

and Y'hoyakhin king of Y'hudah went out to meet the king of Bavel - he, his mother, and his servants, princes and officers; and the king of Bavel took him captive in the eighth year of his reign.

Y'hoyakhin he carried off to Bavel; likewise he carried off the king's mother, the king's wives, his officers and the main leaders of the land from Yerushalayim into captivity in Bavel.

All the strong men - 7,000 of them, as well as 1,000 craftsmen and metalsmiths, all of them strong and trained for war - the king of Bavel brought captive to Bavel.

The king of Bavel made Matanyah, Y'hoyakhin's father's brother, king in place of Y'hoyakhin and changed his name to Tzidkiyahu.

And it was because of ADONAI's anger that all these things happened to Yerushalayim and Y'hudah, until he had thrown them out of his presence. Tzidkiyahu rebelled against the king of Bavel;

so in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, N'vukhadnetzar king of Bavel marched against Yerushalayim with his entire army. He set up camp against it and built siege towers against it on every side.

Then they took the king and brought him up to the king of Bavel in Rivlah, where they passed judgment on him.

They slaughtered his sons before his eyes. Then they put out Tzidkiyahu's eyes, bound him in chains and carried him off to Bavel.

In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which was also the nineteenth year of King N'vukhadnetzar, king of Bavel, N'vuzar'adan, the commander of the guard and an officer of the king of Bavel, entered Yerushalayim.

N'vuzar'adan the commander of the guard then deported the remaining population of the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Bavel and the rest of the common people.

The Kasdim smashed the bronze columns in the house of ADONAI, also the trolleys and bronze Sea that were in the house of ADONAI, and carried their bronze to Bavel.

N'vuzar'adan the commander of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Bavel in Rivlah.

There in Rivlah, in the land of Hamat, the king of Bavel had them put to death. Thus Y'hudah was carried away captive out of his land.

N'vukhadnetzar king of Babylon appointed G'dalyahu the son of Achikam, the son of Shafan, governor over the people remaining behind in the land of Y'hudah after he left.

When all the army officers and their men heard that the king of Bavel had made G'dalyahu governor, they came to G'dalyahu in Mitzpah - Yishma'el the son of N'tanyah, Yochanan the son of Kareach, S'rayah the son of Tanchumet the N'tofati and Ya'azanyahu the son of the Ma'akhati - they and their men.