The LORD sent raiding parties from the Chaldeans, Arameans, Moabites, and Ammonites against Jehoiakim. He sent them against Judah to destroy it, in keeping with the message from the LORD that he had spoken through his servants, the prophets.

The city was breached, and the entire army left during the night through the gate that stood between the two walls beside the royal garden, even though the Chaldeans had surrounded the city. They escaped through the Arabah,

but the Chaldean army pursued the king and overtook him in the Jericho plains, where his entire army was scattered.

The Chaldeans captured the king and brought him to Riblah, where the king of Babylon determined his sentence.

The Chaldean army that accompanied the captain of the guard demolished the walls that surrounded Jerusalem.

The Chaldeans also broke into pieces and carried back to Babylon the bronze pillars that stood in the LORD's Temple, along with the stands and the bronze sea that used to be in the LORD's Temple.

Gedaliah made this promise to them and to their men: "Don't be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and things will go well with you."

Nevertheless, seven months later, Nethaniah's son Ishmael, the grandson of Elishama from the royal family, came with ten men and attacked Gedaliah. As a result, he died along with the Jews and Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.

Then all the people, including those who were insignificant and those who were important, fled with the captains of the armed forces to Egypt, because they were afraid of the Chaldeans.