23. There were ninety-six pomegranates evenly spaced around each column, and a total of one hundred pomegranates were above the chains.
24. Next, Nebuzaradan arrested Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah his assistant, and three temple officials.
25. Then he arrested one of the army commanders, seven of King Zedekiah's personal advisers, and the officer in charge of gathering the troops for battle. He also found sixty more soldiers who were still in Jerusalem.
26-27. Nebuzaradan led them to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where Nebuchadnezzar had them killed.The people of Judah no longer lived in their own country.
28-30. Here is a list of the number of the people of Judah that Nebuchadnezzar took to Babylonia as prisoners:In his seventh year as king, he took 3,023 people.In his eighteenth year as king, he took 832 from Jerusalem.In his twenty-third year as king, his officer Nebuzaradan took 745 people.So, Nebuchadnezzar took a total of 4,600 people from Judah to Babylonia.
31. Jehoiachin was a prisoner in Babylon for thirty-seven years. Then Evil-Merodach became king of Babylonia, and in the first year of his rule, on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month, he let Jehoiachin out of prison.
32. Evil-Merodach was kind to Jehoiachin and honoured him more than any of the other kings held prisoner there.
33. Jehoiachin was allowed to wear ordinary clothes instead of a prison uniform, and he even ate at the king's table every day.
34. As long as Jehoiachin lived, he was paid a daily allowance to buy whatever he needed.