Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, captured the few people left in the city, those who surrendered to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the population.
So the Lord made the army commanders of the king of Assyria invade Judah. They took Manasseh captive, put a hook in his nose, put him in bronze shackles, and brought him to Babylon.
So he had the Babylonian king attack them and execute their best young men in their holy temple. He didn’t spare the best men or the unmarried women, the old people or the sick people. God handed all of them over to him.
The king of Babylon took those who weren’t executed to Babylon to be slaves for him and his sons. They remained captives until the Persian Empire began to rule.
So I will throw you out of this land into a land that you and your ancestors haven’t heard of. There you will serve other gods day and night because I will no longer have pity on you.’
“⌞Zion’s⌟ gates have sunk into the ground. ⌞The Lord⌟ destroyed and shattered the bars across its ⌞gates⌟. Its king and influential people are ⌞scattered⌟ among the nations. There is no longer any instruction ⌞from Moses’ Teachings⌟. Its prophets can find no visions from the Lord.
The person the Lord anointed ⌞as king⌟, who is the breath of our life, was caught in their pits. We had thought that we would live in our king’s shadow among the nations.”
“ ‘Nation of Israel, this is what the Almighty Lord says: Serve your disgusting idols. But afterwards, you will listen to me. You will no longer dishonor my holy name with your gifts and your disgusting idols.
Then the Lord will scatter you among all the people of the world, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will serve gods made of wood and stone that neither you nor your ancestors ever knew.