By the ninth [day] of the [fourth] month the famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.

Then the city wall was broken through, and all the men of war [fled] at night by way of the gate between two walls, which was by the king's garden, even though the Chaldeans [were] still encamped all around against the city. And [the king] went by way of the plain.

In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth [day] of the month, the city was penetrated.

By the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.

Then the city wall was broken through, and all the men of war fled and went out of the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls, which [was] by the king's garden, even though the Chaldeans [were] near the city all around. And they went by way of the plain.

[and] to ask the priests who [were] in the house of the LORD of hosts, and the prophets, saying, "Should I weep in the fifth month and fast as I have done for so many years?"

Now in the fifth month, on the tenth [day] of the month (which [was] the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, [who] served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.

And all the army of the Chaldeans who [were] with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around.

"Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh [months] during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me -- for Me?

But it happened in the seventh month that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal family, came with ten men and struck and killed Gedaliah, the Jews, as well as the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.

Now it came to pass in the seventh month [that] Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal family and of the officers of the king, came with ten men to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, at Mizpah. And there they ate bread together in Mizpah.

Ishmael also struck down all the Jews who were with him, [that is,] with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war.

Now it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth [day] of the month, [that] Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it; and [they] built a siege wall against it all around.

And in every province and city, wherever the king's command and decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a holiday. Then many of the people of the land became Jews, because fear of the Jews fell upon them.

as the days on which the Jews had rest from their enemies, as the month which was turned from sorrow to joy for them, and from mourning to a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and joy, of sending presents to one another and gifts to the poor.

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,

And in that day you will say: "O LORD, I will praise You; Though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me.

And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, And come to Zion with singing, With everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

So the ransomed of the LORD shall return, And come to Zion with singing, With everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness; Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, Streaming to the goodness of the LORD -- For wheat and new wine and oil, For the young of the flock and the herd; Their souls shall be like a well-watered garden, And they shall sorrow no more at all.

"Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, And the young men and the old, together; For I will turn their mourning to joy, Will comfort them, And make them rejoice rather than sorrow.

These [are] the things you shall do: Speak each man the truth to his neighbor; Give judgment in your gates for truth, justice, and peace;

To grant us that we, Being delivered from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear,

In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,

teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,

But outside [are] dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.