¹ Oracolo, parola dell’Eterno, contro il paese di Hadrac, e che si ferma sopra Damasco; poiché l’Eterno ha l’occhio su tutti gli uomini e su tutte le tribù d’Israele.

² Essa si ferma pure sopra Hamath, ai confini di Damasco, su Tiro e Sidone perché son così savie!

³ Tiro s’è costruita una fortezza, ed ha ammassato argento come polvere, e oro come fango di strada.

⁴ Ecco, l’Eterno s’impadronirà di essa, getterà la sua potenza nel mare, ed essa sarà consumata dal fuoco.

⁵ Askalon lo vedrà e avrà paura; anche Gaza, e si torcerà dal gran dolore; e così Ekron, perché la sua speranza sarà confusa; e Gaza non avrà più re, e Askalon non sarà più abitata.

⁶ Dei bastardi abiteranno in Asdod, ed io annienterò l’orgoglio dei Filistei.

⁷ Ma io toglierò il sangue della bocca del Filisteo e le abominazioni di fra i suoi denti, e anch’egli sarà un residuo per il nostro Dio; sarà come un capo in Giuda, ed Ekron, come il Gebuseo.

⁸ Ed io m’accamperò attorno alla mia casa per difenderla da ogni esercito, da chi va e viene; e nessun esattor di tributi passerà più da loro; perché ora ho visto con gli occhi miei.

⁹ Esulta grandemente, o figliuola di Sion, manda gridi d’allegrezza, o figliuola di Gerusalemme; ecco, il tuo re viene a te; egli è giusto e vittorioso, umile e montato sopra un asino, sopra un puledro d’asina.

¹⁰ Io farò sparire i carri da Efraim, i cavalli da Gerusalemme, e gli archi di guerra saranno annientati. Egli parlerà di pace alle nazioni, il suo dominio si estenderà da un mare all’altro, e dal fiume sino alle estremità della terra.

¹¹ E te pure, Israele, a motivo del sangue del tuo patto, io trarrò i tuoi prigionieri dalla fossa senz’acqua.

¹² Tornate alla fortezza, o voi prigionieri della speranza! Anch’oggi io ti dichiaro che ti renderò il doppio.

¹³ Poiché io piego Giuda come un arco, armo l’arco con Efraim, e solleverò i tuoi figliuoli, o Sion, contro i tuoi figliuoli, o Javan, e ti renderò simile alla spada di un prode.

¹⁴ L’Eterno apparirà sopra di loro, e la sua freccia partirà come un lampo. Il Signore, L’Eterno, sonerà la tromba, e avanzerà coi turbini del mezzogiorno.

¹⁵ L’Eterno degli eserciti li proteggerà; ed essi divoreranno, calpesteranno le pietre di fionda: berranno, schiamazzeranno come eccitati dal vino, e saran pieni come coppe da sacrifizi, come i canti dell’altare.

¹⁶ E l’Eterno, il loro Dio, li salverà, in quel giorno, come il gregge del suo popolo; poiché saranno come pietre d’un diadema, che rifulgeranno sulla sua terra.

¹⁷ Poiché qual prosperità sarà la loro! e quanta sarà la loro bellezza! Il grano farà crescere i giovani, e il mosto le fanciulle.

¹ Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

² He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

³ For through the anger of Yahweh did it happen in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

⁴ It happened in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it round about.

⁵ So the city was besieged to the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.

⁶ In the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.

⁷ Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden; (now the Chaldeans were against the city all around;) and they went toward the Arabah.

⁸ But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.

⁹ Then they took the king, and carried him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; and he gave judgment on him.

¹⁰ The king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he killed also all the princes of Judah in Riblah.

¹¹ He put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison until the day of his death.

¹² Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, who stood before the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem:

¹³ and he burned the house of Yahweh, and the king's house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, burned he with fire.

¹⁴ All the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around.

¹⁵ Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the poorest of the people, and the residue of the people who were left in the city, and those who fell away, who fell to the king of Babylon, and the residue of the multitude.

¹⁶ But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poorest of the land to be vineyard keepers and farmers.

¹⁷ The pillars of brass that were in the house of Yahweh, and the bases and the bronze sea that were in the house of Yahweh, did the Chaldeans break in pieces, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon.

¹⁸ The pots also, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the basins, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass with which they ministered, took they away.

¹⁹ The cups, and the fire pans, and the basins, and the pots, and the lampstands, and the spoons, and the bowls--that which was of gold, in gold, and that which was of silver, in silver,--the captain of the guard took away.

²⁰ The two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve bronze bulls that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made for the house of Yahweh. The brass of all these vessels was without weight.

²¹ As for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a line of twelve cubits did compass it; and its thickness was four fingers: it was hollow.

²² A capital of brass was on it; and the height of the one capital was five cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capital all around, all of brass: and the second pillar also had like these, and pomegranates.

²³ There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates were one hundred on the network all around.

²⁴ The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold:

²⁵ and out of the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war; and seven men of those who saw the king's face, who were found in the city; and the scribe of the captain of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the midst of the city.

²⁶ Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah.

²⁷ The king of Babylon struck them, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive out of his land.

²⁸ This is the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year three thousand twenty-three Jews;

²⁹ in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty-two persons;

³⁰ in the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty-five persons: all the persons were four thousand and six hundred.

³¹ It happened in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the [first] year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison;

³² and he spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon,

³³ and changed his prison garments. [Jehoiachin] ate bread before him continually all the days of his life:

³⁴ and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him by the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.