¹ King Nebuchadnezzar had a golden ²  statue made. ³  It was ninety feet ⁴  tall and nine feet ⁵  wide. He erected it on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.

So I issued an order ¹  for all the wise men of Babylon to be brought ²  before me so that they could make known to me the interpretation of the dream.

The king uttered these words: “Is this not the great Babylon that I have built for a royal residence ¹  by my own mighty strength ²  and for my majestic honor?”

In the first ¹  year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had ²  a dream filled with visions ³  while he was lying on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream in summary fashion. ⁴ 

“Choose some people ¹  from among the exiles, namely, Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, all of whom have come from Babylon, and when you have done so go to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah. ² 

For the Lord says, ‘I will make both you and your friends terrified of what will happen to you. ¹  You will see all of them die by the swords of their enemies. ²  I will hand all the people of Judah over to the king of Babylon. He will carry some of them away into exile in Babylon and he will kill others of them with the sword.

But now, Jeremiah, today I will set you free ¹  from the chains on your wrists. If you would like to come to Babylon with me, come along and I will take care of you. ²  But if you prefer not to come to Babylon with me, you are not required to do so. ³  You are free to go anywhere in the land you want to go. ⁴  Go wherever you choose.” ⁵ 

Now some of the officers of the Judean army and their troops had been hiding in the countryside. They heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam to govern ¹  the country. They also heard that he had been put in charge over the men, women, and children from the poorer classes of the land who had not been carried off into exile in Babylon. ² 

I saw among the goods we seized a nice robe from Babylon, ¹  two hundred silver pieces, ²  and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels. I wanted them, so I took them. They are hidden in the ground right in the middle of my tent with the silver underneath.”

So King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and set up camp outside ¹  it. They built siege ramps all around it. He arrived on the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign. ² 

All of the officers of the Judahite army ¹  and their troops heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah to govern. So they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. The officers who came were Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite.

Gedaliah took an oath so as to give them and their troops some assurance of safety. ¹  He said, “You don’t need to be afraid to submit to the Babylonian officials. Settle down in the land and submit to the king of Babylon. Then things will go well for you.”

In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, on the twenty-seventh ¹  day of the twelfth month, ²  King Evil-Merodach of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, pardoned ³  King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him ⁴  from prison.

He carried away to Babylon all the items in God’s temple, whether large or small, as well as what was in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and in the treasuries of the king and his officials.

“Now if the king is so inclined, ¹  let a search be conducted in the royal archives ²  there in Babylon in order to determine whether King Cyrus did in fact issue orders for this temple of God to be rebuilt in Jerusalem. Then let the king send us a decision concerning this matter.”

Furthermore let the gold and silver vessels of the temple of God, which Nebuchadnezzar brought from the temple in Jerusalem and carried to Babylon, be returned and brought to their proper place in the temple in Jerusalem. Let them be deposited in the temple of God.’

This Ezra is the one who came up from Babylon. He was a scribe who was skilled in the law of Moses which the Lord God of Israel had given. The king supplied him with everything he requested, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him.

I will hand over all the wealth of this city to their enemies. I will hand over to them all the fruits of the labor of the people of this city and all their prized possessions, as well as all the treasures of the kings of Judah. Their enemies will seize it all as plunder ¹  and carry it off to Babylon.

that the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ¹  ‘The forces at your disposal ²  are now outside the walls fighting against King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the Babylonians ³  who have you under siege. I will gather those forces back inside the city. ⁴ 

Then ¹  I, the Lord, promise that ²  I will hand over King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and any of the people who survive the war, starvation, and disease. I will hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and to their enemies who want to kill them. He will slaughter them with the sword. He will not show them any mercy, compassion, or pity.’