7. They killed Zedekiah’s sons as he watched. Then they put out his eyes and put bronze chains on him and took him to Babylon.
8. Nebuzaradan was the commander of the king’s special guards. This officer of the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem on the seventh day of the fifth month, in Nebuchadnezzar’s nineteenth year as king of Babylon.
9. Nebuzaradan set fire to the Temple of the Lord and the palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building was burned.
10. The whole Babylonian army, led by the commander of the king’s special guards, broke down the walls around Jerusalem.
11. Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, captured the people left in Jerusalem, those who had surrendered to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the people.
12. But the commander left behind some of the poorest people of the land to take care of the vineyards and fields.
13. The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the bronze stands, and the large bronze bowl, which was called the Sea, in the Temple of the Lord. Then they carried the bronze to Babylon.
14. They also took the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes, and all the bronze objects used to serve in the Temple.
15. The commander of the king’s special guards took away the pans for carrying hot coals, the bowls, and everything made of pure gold or silver.
16. There were two pillars and the large bronze bowl and the movable stands which Solomon had made for the Temple of the Lord. There was so much bronze that it could not be weighed.