Kuwa kwe Jerusalema
(2 Bomambo 24:18—25:7)1 Zedekiya wakabe ali makole ali makumi mabili ana ling'ompela (21) paakabe mambo, wakabusa makole ali gumi lina ling'ompela (11) mu Jerusalema. Zina la mmeyabe lakabe liyi Hamutali bali nkololokadzi wa Jeremiya we Libina. 2 Wakathama mbipo mbeli kwa Yahwe, koga sekwa kathama Jehoyakimu. 3 Nge malebeswa ngekwe kugwadzamoyo kwa Yahwe zwithu zwakashingikalila Jerusalema ne Juda, zwakayita kuti babatate mbeli kwabo.
Zedekiya kapandukila mambo we Bhabhiloni. 4 Ngono kukati mu gole le buzhanalume le mbuso uwe, mu mwedzi we bugumi, mu zhuba le bugumi le mwedzi, Nebukadineza mambo we Bhabhiloni kazha ne babhayani babe bose kubhayana ne Jerusalema, kaikomba kabaka duluthulu le guma kuipoteleka. 5 Ndizo nzi nkulu wakakombiwa kunoti gole le bugumi lina ling'ompela (11) la Mambo Zedekiya.
6 Mu zhuba le buzhanalume le mwedzi we bunna bhamba likabipa mu nzi nkulu kwakayita kuti kusheteke zojiwa zwe bathu be shango. 7 Ipapo guma le nzi nkulu likapkhwanyiwa ngono babhayani bose bakatizha, bakabhuda mu nzi nkulu busiku nge nkoba upakati kwe makuma mabili apejo ne nnda wa mambo nenguba Bakhaladiya bakabe bakapoteleka nzi nkulu. Ngono bakatola zila yakalinga ku Araba. 8 Koga babhayani be Bakhaladiya bakatatamila mambo bakabhatila Zedekiya mu lubala gwe Jerikho ngono babhayani babe bose bakabe bampalalila. 9 Ipapo bakabhata mambo bakan'yisa kuna mambo we Bhabhiloni ku Ribila mu shango ye Hamati, ngono kaswika kan'tilika nlandu. 10 Mambo we Bhabhiloni kabulaya bakololo ba Zedekiya mbeli kukwe, kakale kabulaya makulukota e Juda ku Ribila. 11 Wakakonyombola mesho a Zedekiya, kan'sunga nge ketani mu makumbo ngono mambo we Bhabhiloni kantolela ku Bhabhiloni kaswika kan'longa mu ng'umba ye busungwa kudzina zhuba le lufu gugwe.
Kukolomogwa kwe Ng'umba ye Ndzimu
(2 Bomambo 25:8-17)12 Mu mwedzi we bushanu mu zhuba le bugumi le mwedzi, hwuti gole le bugumi lina makole ali zhanalume (19) la Mambo Nebukadineza, mambo we Bhabhiloni, Nebuzaradani ntungamili we balindi wakabe eshinga mambo we Bhabhiloni kangina mu Jerusalema. 13 Kapisa Ng'umba ya Yahwe ne ng'umba ye bumambo ne ng'umba dzose dze Jerusalema, ng'umba imwe ne imwe hwulu kaipisa. 14 Babhayani bose bakabe bana ntungamili we balindi bakapkhwanya makuma wose kupoteleka Jerusalema. 15 Nebuzaradani ntungamili we balindi katapa bathu bose bakabe bali bashayi kwazo nenge bathu bose bakabe basala mu nzi nkulu ne batizhi bakabe batizhila kuna mambo we Bhabhiloni ne nyambi dze kubezha. 16 Koga Nebuzaradani ntungamili we balindi kasiya bamwe be bashayi kwazo mu shango kuti bashinge mu minda ye mizhambi ne mu minda imwe.
17 Phanda dze phangula dzakabe dzili dze Ng'umba ya Yahwe ne zwigadziko zwina makumbgwana ne Gungwa le phangula zwakabe zwili mu Ng'umba ya Yahwe, Bakhaladiya bakazwipkhwanya zwikabe zwiyenga ngono bakasengela phangula yose ku Bhabhiloni. 18 Bakasenga kose ne hali ne maharawo ne zwidzimi zwe mavone ne zwikutili ne ndigwana dzinopisila motsha ne zwija zose zwe phangula zwakabe zwishingisiwa mu Ng'umba ye Ndzimu, 19 ne zwikutili zwitukununu ne makambana e moto ne zwikutili ne hali ne zwigadziko zwe mavone ne ndigwana dzinopisila motsha ne ndilo hwulu, zose zwe zwipo zwe zwing'o zwakabe zwakathang'wa nge siliva.
20 Phanda mbili dze phangula ne Gungwa, kusi kwalo lina zwifano zwe mikono zwili gumi lina zwibili zwakathamwa nge phangula ne zwigadziko zwina makumbgwana zwakabe zwathamwa ndi Mambo Solomoni ezwithamila Ng'umba ya Yahwe zwakabe zwili zwinjinji kwazwabe zwipinda zwiyelo. 21 Phanda imwe ne imwe bulefu kuyenda pezhugwi gwakabe guli thambo dzili gumi lina zhanakadzi (18), tjapezhugwi kwe phanda kwakabe kuli bupabi gwe maboko ali gumi lina mabili (12), bupabi gwe phanda gwakabe guli zwinyala zwili zwinna phanda yakabe ili bgwambgwa koga tjemukati.
22 Phanda yakabe ina nsholo wayo we phangula, pezhugwi kwe nsholo kwakabe kuli maboko ali mashanu, kwakalukanyiwa kuna dzipomegiranate dzose dzili dze phangula dzakanakisa pezhugwi kupoteleka. Phanda imwe yakabe yakanakisiwa koga sa ikoku, dzipomegiranate naidzo dzili muili. 23 Dzipomegiranate dzakabe dziboneka dzakabe dzili makumi ali zhanalume dzina dzili tathatu (96). Dzipomegiranate dzose dzakabe dzakalukigwa kupoteleka dzakabe dzili zana (100).
Bajuta banoyisiwa ku Bhabhiloni
(2 Bomambo 25:18-21, 2 27-30)24 Ngono ntungamili we balindi katola Seraya mpirisiti nkulu na Zafaniya unotobela mpirisiti nkulu ne batjengeti batatu be lutombo, 25 kudwa mu nzi nkulu wakatola nshingi wakabe ali nlauli we balume be ngwa ne balume bali kutendeka be bakumbuludzi ba mambo, bakabe bewang'wa mu nzi nkulu, ne nkwalili we nlauli we babhayani wakabe edanilila bathu be shango, ne balume bali makumi ali tathatu (60) be bathu be shango, bakabe bewang'wa mu nzi nkulu. 26 Ngono Nebuzaradani ntungamili we balindi wakabatola kabayisa kuna mambo we Bhabhiloni ku Ribila. 27 Mambo we Bhabhiloni kabaloba kababulaya ku Ribila mu shango ye Hamati. Ndizo Bajuta bakatolegwa kuzhe kwe shango yabo.
28 Eyi imbalo ye bathu bakatogwa ndi Nebukadineza ebatapa: Mu gole le butendeka, kwakatogwa Bajuta bali zwiwulu zwili zwitatu zwina makumi mabili ana batatu (3 023), 29 mu gole le bugumi lina ali zhanakadzi la Nebukadineza wakatapa kudwa mu Jerusalema bathu bali mazana ali zhanakadzi ana bali makumi matatu ana babili (832), 30 mu gole le bumakumi mabili ana ali matatu la Nebukadineza, Nebuzaradani ntungamili we balindi wakatapa Bajuta bali mazana ali kutendeka ana bali makumi manna ana bashanu (745), bathu bose bose bakabe bali zwiwulu zwili zwinna zwina mazana ali tathatu (4 600).
Jehoyakini unosunungugwa
31 Mu gole le bumakumi matatu ana kutendeka le kutapiwa kwa Jehoyakini mambo we Juda mu mwedzi we bugumi lina mibili mu zhuba le bugumi lina ali mashanu le mwedzi, Evilimerodaki mambo we Bhabhiloni mu gole laakaabe mambo, kamilidza nsholo wa Jehoyakini mambo we Juda ngono kan'dusa mu ng'umba ye busungwa, 32 kalebeleka naye nge buthu ngono kampa tjigalo tjipezhugwi kwe tja bomambo bamwe bakabe banaye mu Bhabhiloni. 33 Ndizo Jehoyakini kaambula zwiambalo zwizwe zwe busungwa. Ngono mazhuba wose e butjilo gugwe kaja zwibaka zose pa tafuli ya mambo, 34 ngekwe ndipo iye wakabe epiwa ndipo tjibaka ne tjibaka kuyenda ne zwaanoshaka zhuba ne zhuba atjatjila kudzina zhuba le lufu gugwe.
The Fall of Jerusalem
(2 Kings 24.18—25.7)1 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of the Jeremiah who lived in the city of Libnah. 2 King Zedekiah sinned against the Lord, just as King Jehoiakim had done. 3 The Lord became so angry with the people of Jerusalem and Judah that he banished them from his sight.
Zedekiah rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia, 4 and so Nebuchadnezzar came with all his army and attacked Jerusalem on the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign. They set up camp outside the city, built siege walls around it, 5 and kept it under siege until Zedekiah's eleventh year. 6 On the ninth day of the fourth month of that same year, when the famine was so bad that the people had nothing left to eat, 7 the city walls were broken through. Although the Babylonians were surrounding the city, all the soldiers escaped during the night. They left by way of the royal garden, went through the gateway connecting the two walls, and fled in the direction of the Jordan Valley. 8 But the Babylonian army pursued King Zedekiah, captured him in the plains near Jericho, and all his soldiers deserted him. 9 Zedekiah was taken to King Nebuchadnezzar, who was in the city of Riblah in the territory of Hamath, and there Nebuchadnezzar passed sentence on him. 10 At Riblah he put Zedekiah's sons to death while Zedekiah was looking on and he also had the officials of Judah executed. 11 After that, he had Zedekiah's eyes put out and had him placed in chains and taken to Babylon. Zedekiah remained in prison in Babylon until the day he died.
The Destruction of the Temple
(2 Kings 25.8-17)12 On the tenth day of the fifth month of the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia, Nebuzaradan, adviser to the king and commander of his army, entered Jerusalem. 13 He burned down the Temple, the palace, and the houses of all the important people in Jerusalem; 14 and his soldiers tore down the city walls. 15 Then Nebuzaradan took away to Babylonia the people who were left in the city, the remaining skilled workers, and those who had deserted to the Babylonians. 16 But he left in Judah some of the poorest people, who owned no property, and he put them to work in the vineyards and fields.
17 The Babylonians broke in pieces the bronze columns and the carts that were in the Temple, together with the large bronze tank, and they took all the bronze to Babylon. 18 They also took away the shovels and the ash containers used in cleaning the altar, the tools used in tending the lamps, the bowls used for catching the blood from the sacrifices, the bowls used for burning incense, and all the other bronze articles used in the Temple service. 19 They took away everything that was made of gold or silver: the small bowls, the pans used for carrying live coals, the bowls for holding the blood from the sacrifices, the ash containers, the lampstands, the bowls used for incense, and the bowls used for pouring out wine offerings. 20 The bronze objects that King Solomon had made for the Temple—the two columns, the carts, the large tank, and the twelve bulls that supported it—were too heavy to weigh. 21-22 The two columns were identical: each one was 27 feet high and 18 feet around. They were hollow, and the metal was 3 inches thick. On top of each column was a bronze capital 7½ feet high, and all around it was a grillwork decorated with pomegranates, all of which was also made of bronze. 23 On the grillwork of each column there were a hundred pomegranates in all, and ninety-six of these were visible from the ground.
The People of Judah Are Taken to Babylonia
(2 Kings 25.18-212 27-30)24 In addition, Nebuzaradan, the commanding officer, took away as prisoners Seraiah the High Priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank, and the three other important Temple officials. 25 From the city he took the officer who had been in command of the troops, seven of the king's personal advisers who were still in the city, the commander's assistant, who was in charge of military records, and sixty other important men. 26 Nebuzaradan took them to the king of Babylonia, who was in the city of Riblah 27 in the territory of Hamath. There the king had them beaten and put to death.
So the people of Judah were carried away from their land into exile. 28 This is the record of the people that Nebuchadnezzar took away as prisoners: in his seventh year as king he carried away 3,023; 29 in his eighteenth year, 832 from Jerusalem; 30 and in his twenty-third year, 745—taken away by Nebuzaradan. In all, 4,600 people were taken away.
31 In the year that Evil-merodach became king of Babylonia, he showed kindness to King Jehoiachin of Judah by releasing him from prison. This happened on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year after Jehoiachin had been taken away as a prisoner. 32 Evil-merodach treated him kindly and gave him a position of greater honor than he gave the other kings who were exiles with him in Babylonia. 33 So Jehoiachin was permitted to change from his prison clothes and to dine at the king's table for the rest of his life. 34 Each day for as long as he lived, he was given a regular allowance for his needs.