2 Raja-raja 25:11-21

25:11 Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, deported the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen. ¹  25:12 But he ²  left behind some of the poor of the land and gave them fields and vineyards.

25:13 The Babylonians broke the two bronze pillars in the Lord’s temple, as well as the movable stands and the big bronze basin called the “The Sea.” ³  They took the bronze to Babylon. 25:14 They also took the pots, shovels, ⁴  trimming shears, ⁵  pans, and all the bronze utensils used by the priests. ⁶  25:15 The captain of the royal guard took the golden and silver censers ⁷  and basins. 25:16 The bronze of the items that King Solomon made for the Lord’s temple – including the two pillars, the big bronze basin called “The Sea,” the twelve bronze bulls under “The Sea,” ⁸  and the movable stands – was too heavy to be weighed. 25:17 Each of the pillars was about twenty-seven feet ⁹  high. The bronze top of one pillar was about four and a half feet ¹⁰  high and had bronze latticework and pomegranate shaped ornaments all around it. The second pillar with its latticework was like it.

25:18 The captain of the royal guard took Seraiah the chief priest and Zephaniah, the priest who was second in rank, and the three doorkeepers. 25:19 From the city he took a eunuch who was in charge of the soldiers, five ¹¹  of the king’s advisers ¹²  who were discovered in the city, an official army secretary who drafted citizens ¹³  for military service, and sixty citizens from the people of the land who were discovered in the city. 25:20 Nebuzaradan, captain of the royal guard, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 25:21 The king of Babylon ordered them to be executed ¹⁴  at Riblah in the territory ¹⁵  of Hamath. So Judah was deported from its land.

[25:11]  ¹ tc The MT has “the multitude.” But הֶהָמוֹן (hehamon) should probably be emended to הֶאָמוֹן (he’amon).

[25:12]  ² tn Heb “the captain of the royal guard.” However, the subject is clear from the preceding and contemporary English style would normally avoid repeating the proper name and title.

[25:13]  ³ sn See the note at 1 Kgs 7:23.

[25:14]  ⁴ sn These shovels were used to clean the altar.

[25:14]  ⁵ sn These were used to trim the wicks.

[25:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “with which they served [or, ‘fulfilled their duty’].”

[25:15]  ⁷ sn These held the embers used for the incense offerings.

[25:16]  ⁸ tc The MT lacks “the twelve bronze bulls under ‘the Sea,’” but these words have probably been accidentally omitted by homoioarcton. The scribe’s eye may have jumped from the וְהָ (vÿha-) on וְהַבָּקָר (vÿhabbaqar), “and the bulls,” to the וְהָ on וְהַמְּכֹנוֹת (vÿhammÿkhonot), “and the movable stands,” causing him to leave out the intervening words. See the parallel passage in Jer 52:20.

[25:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “eighteen cubits.” The standard cubit in the OT is assumed by most authorities to be about eighteen inches (45 cm) long.

[25:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “three cubits.” The parallel passage in Jer 52:22 has “five.”

[25:19]  ¹¹ tn The parallel passage in Jer 52:25 has “seven.”

[25:19]  ¹² tn Heb “five seers of the king’s face.”

[25:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “the people of the land.”

[25:21]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “struck them down and killed them.”

[25:21]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “land.”