6. At Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes, and he also slaughtered all Judah’s nobles.
7. Then he blinded Zedekiah and put him in bronze chains to take him to Babylon.
8. The Chaldeans next burned down the king’s palace and the people’s houses and tore down the walls of Jerusalem.
9. Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, deported the rest of the people to Babylon — those who had remained in the city and those deserters who had defected to him along with the rest of the people who had remained.
10. However, Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, left in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing, and he gave them vineyards and fields at that time.
11. Speaking through Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon gave orders concerning Jeremiah, saying:
12. “Take him, look after him, and don’t let any harm come to him; do for him whatever he says.”
13. Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, Nebushazban the Rab-saris, Nergal-sharezer the Rab-mag, and all the captains of the king of Babylon
14. had Jeremiah brought from the guard’s courtyard and turned him over to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, to take him home. So he settled among his own people.
15. Now the word of the Lord had come to Jeremiah when he was confined in the guard’s courtyard:
16. “Go tell Ebed-melech the Cushite: This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am about to fulfill My words for harm and not for good against this city. They will take place before your eyes on that day.