2 Raja-raja 25:8-10

Nebuchadnezzar Destroys Jerusalem

25:8 On the seventh ¹  day of the fifth month, ²  in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard ³  who served the king of Babylon, arrived in Jerusalem. ⁴  25:9 He burned down the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem, including every large house. ⁵  25:10 The whole Babylonian army that came with the captain of the royal guard tore down the walls that surrounded Jerusalem.

2 Raja-raja 25:13-17

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.” ⁶  They took the bronze to Babylon. 25:14 They also took the pots, shovels, ⁷  trimming shears, ⁸  pans, and all the bronze utensils used by the priests. ⁹  25:15 The captain of the royal guard took the golden and silver censers ¹⁰  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,” ¹¹  and the movable stands – was too heavy to be weighed. 25:17 Each of the pillars was about twenty-seven feet ¹²  high. The bronze top of one pillar was about four and a half feet ¹³  high and had bronze latticework and pomegranate shaped ornaments all around it. The second pillar with its latticework was like it.

[25:8]  ¹ tn The parallel account in Jer 52:12 has “tenth.”

[25:8]  ² sn The seventh day of the month would have been August 14, 586 b.c. in modern reckoning.

[25:8]  ³ tn For the meaning of this phrase see BDB 371 s.v. טַבָּח 2, and compare the usage in Gen 39:1.

[25:8]  ⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[25:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “and every large house he burned down with fire.”

[25:13]  ⁶ sn See the note at 1 Kgs 7:23.

[25:14]  ⁷ sn These shovels were used to clean the altar.

[25:14]  ⁸ sn These were used to trim the wicks.

[25:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “with which they served [or, ‘fulfilled their duty’].”

[25:15]  ¹⁰ sn These held the embers used for the incense offerings.

[25:16]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Heb “three cubits.” The parallel passage in Jer 52:22 has “five.”