Short answer: In 2 Kings 25:1–21, the exiles are the residents of Jerusalem and Judah. Nebuzaradan, the Babylonian captain of the guard, carried away the residue left in the city, those who had fallen away to Babylon, and the residue of the multitude, while leaving some of the poorest to work vineyards and fields. A separate group of leaders and priests was taken to Riblah and put to death. The chapter closes by saying Judah was carried away captive out of his land.
The fall of Jerusalem told in dated, measured steps
Second Kings 25:1–21 is narrative history, the closing report of how the kingdom of Judah ended under Babylon. The writer does not argue or preach here; he dates events and lets them speak. The siege begins in the ninth year of Zedekiah, tenth month, tenth day (25:1). The city holds out until his eleventh year (25:2). Then comes the famine, so severe that there was no bread for the people of the land (25:3). A breach opens in the wall, the soldiers flee by night, and the king slips out toward the Arabah (25:4). The plain sequence carries the weight.
The verses just before explain the reason. Zedekiah did evil in Yahweh's sight, and he rebelled against the king of Babylon (24:19). The text then says this happened through the anger of Yahweh, until he had cast them out from his presence (24:20). So the fall is not random disaster. It stands in the long covenant warning that persistent idolatry ends in removal from the land. The narrative shows that warning arriving: pursuit in the plains of Jericho, the army scattered, the king captured and judged at Riblah, his sons killed before his eyes, his own eyes put out, and fetters to Babylon (25:5–7).
What follows is deliberately orderly. Nebuzaradan comes in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar and burns Yahweh's house, the king's house, and every great house (25:8–9). The walls are broken down, and the people are carried away, except the poorest, left to work vineyards and fields (25:10–12). The bronze pillars, bases, sea, pots, shovels, and fire pans are listed and taken (25:13–17). Priests, officers, and sixty men of the land are executed at Riblah (25:18–21). The verses after show Gedaliah made governor, so the text distinguishes exile from remnant.
Who was carried away from Jerusalem
The siege begins with a date and a name. In Zedekiah's ninth year, Nebuchadnezzar comes with his whole army, camps against Jerusalem, and builds forts around it. The city holds out until Zedekiah's eleventh year, and then the famine bites so hard that the people have no bread. The wall is breached, the soldiers flee at night, and the king slips out toward the Arabah. He is caught in the plains of Jericho, his army scattered, and taken to Riblah. There the Babylonians kill his sons before his eyes, put out his eyes, bind him, and lead him to Babylon. The exile begins with the shepherd of the people.
The word rendered captive is ordinary and blunt: people are deported from their own land into a foreign ruler's land. Notice how carefully the text counts who goes. Nebuzaradan carries away the residue of the people left in the city, those who fell away, and the residue of the multitude. The residue means what remains after siege, famine, and flight have already cut the population down. Those who fell away are people who had already gone over to Babylon during the siege. The multitude is the common crowd, not only the nobles. Exile here is a mixed company of the desperate, the defected, and the ordinary.
Yet the exile is not total. The captain of the guard deliberately leaves some of the poorest of the land to work the vineyards and fields. The same chapter records the burning of Yahweh's house, the king's house, and every great house, the breaking down of the walls, and the carrying off of the bronze pillars, the sea, and the temple vessels. Seraiah the chief priest and others are taken to Riblah and put to death. So Judah is carried away captive out of his land. This is a specific covenant event, told in its own terms, not a rule for reading every displacement or loss as God's direct judgment on a person.
Who was carried away from Jerusalem and Judah
The verses just before this passage set the reason on the page. Zedekiah did evil in Yahweh's sight, and 2 Kings 24:20 says, "For through the anger of Yahweh, this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence." Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. The chapter that follows traces the siege from his ninth year to his eleventh, the famine so severe there was no bread, the breach in the wall, the king's night flight, his capture at Jericho, and the killing of his sons before his eyes. The exile is not a random disaster in this account. It is the end of a long covenant rupture.
After the city fell, the narrative names the captives with care. Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, carried away the residue left in the city, those who had already fallen away to the king of Babylon, and the residue of the multitude. He left some of the poorest of the land to work the vineyards and fields. The temple furnishings went too: the bronze pillars, the sea, the bases, the pots and shovels and fire pans, so much bronze it was not weighed. A second, smaller group was taken to Riblah and put to death, including the chief priest, the second priest, the keepers of the threshold, an officer over the men of war, five men who saw the king's face, the scribe who mustered the people, and sixty men of the land.
The section closes with a summary: Judah was carried away captive out of his land. The verses that follow show Gedaliah made governor over those left behind, so the text keeps exile and remnant distinct. The wider covenant setting is the warning of Deuteronomy and the prophets that persistent idolatry would end in removal from the land. Two things stay central. Grace precedes judgment: God had warned, waited, and called his people back. And this is a specific covenant event, not a rule for reading any person's displacement today as a direct judgment from God.
Who was taken from Jerusalem, and where readers differ
The closing chapters of 2 Kings describe the fall of Jerusalem in plain, dated detail. Nebuchadnezzar's army encircles the city in Zedekiah's ninth year, the siege grinds on into the eleventh, and famine empties the city of bread (2 Kings 25:1–3). The wall is breached, the king flees toward the Arabah, and his army scatters. He is caught near Jericho, his sons are killed before him, his eyes are put out, and he is carried to Babylon in chains (2 Kings 25:4–7). A month later the captain of the guard burns the temple, the palace, and the great houses, breaks down the walls, and carries the residue of the people away (2 Kings 25:8–11).
The text is careful about who was left. Some of the poorest of the land stayed to work the vineyards and fields (2 Kings 25:12). The bronze pillars, the sea, and the small vessels of ministry were broken up and hauled to Babylon, and the narrator pauses over the dimensions of the pillars as if measuring what was lost (2 Kings 25:13–17). Then the leaders are singled out: the chief priest, the second priest, the threshold keepers, an officer over the soldiers, royal advisers, a scribe, and sixty men of the land, all taken to Riblah and put to death (2 Kings 25:18–21). The exile was not a faceless crowd.
Careful readers agree on these facts but differ on how to fit them into the larger timeline. Jeremiah spoke of seventy years, and the deportations came in stages, including the earlier removal in Jehoiachin's day, so some read the dates as a tight chronological record while others see the narrator selecting and arranging material for theological effect. Readers also differ over how directly to tie the fall to the sins named nearby, and how far the temple's destruction sets a pattern for later judgment. What stays central is that the text attributes the exile to Yahweh's own action in response to covenant unfaithfulness. It describes a specific covenant event, not a rule for reading any individual's suffering as direct judgment.
The siege, the exile, and the deliverance it prepares
The closing chapters of 2 Kings record a slow, dated collapse. Nebuchadnezzar's army encircles Jerusalem in the ninth year of Zedekiah, builds siege works, and waits. By the fourth month of the eleventh year the famine is so severe that there is no bread for the people of the land (2 Kings 25:3). The wall is breached, the soldiers flee at night, and the king is caught in the plains of Jericho. 2 Kings 25:7 describes what happened next: "They killed Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes, then put out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon." The last thing he sees is the end of his line. This is the covenant curse arriving, not a random disaster.
A month later Nebuzaradan burns Yahweh's house, the king's house, and every great house in Jerusalem, then breaks down the walls (2 Kings 25:8–10). The bronze pillars, the sea, the pots and shovels are carted to Babylon. The chief priest, the second priest, and the threshold keepers are taken to Riblah and put to death. So Judah is carried away captive out of the land. The temple is emptied and the city is left in ruins. Yet even here grace shows: the poorest are left to work vineyards and fields (2 Kings 25:12), and a governor is appointed over them (2 Kings 25:22). A remnant remains, kept not because it deserved keeping but because God had not finished.
This is the curse of the covenant carried out, which is why the return from exile is good news and not a change of policy. The gospel announces that Christ came into this judged people, bore the curse and the casting out in his own body, and gathers a people from every nation rather than from one land. The vessels carried to Babylon point toward a house of God not made with hands, and the poorest left in the land point toward a remnant kept by grace. This text describes one covenant event; it does not license us to call any person's displacement a direct judgment from God.
What faithful response looks like when a city falls
Read 2 Kings 25:1–21 as a warning, not a formula. The siege begins on a dated day, the famine bites until there is no bread, the wall is breached, and the king flees by night only to be overtaken near Jericho. The text does not soften any of it: the sons killed before their father, the eyes put out, the temple burned, the bronze carried off. Persistent refusal of God's word brought this. Yet be careful where you apply it. This is a specific covenant judgment on Jerusalem, not a rule for reading every hardship as God's punishment of a particular person.
Notice who is named and who is left. The captain of the guard takes the chief priest, the second priest, the threshold keepers, the officer over the soldiers, the king's advisers, the scribe, and sixty men of the land, and they die at Riblah. Then the poorest are left to work the vineyards and fields. The world counts those field workers as unimportant, but the text records them by name as the ones kept. Let that shape how you speak about the overlooked. Practical care for the poor and displaced among you is not an extra; it is the shape repentance takes.
When loss comes, do not treat it as proof that God has cast you off. The exile was real and deserved, and still a remnant remained in the land under a governor, with captains coming to Mizpah. The same God who judges also preserves a people for himself. Grace is the ground of obedience, not its reward. So repent where the text exposes you, and let mercy move you outward: feed the hungry, shelter the displaced, and refuse to rank people the way the world does, because God did not forget the poorest of the land.
Biblical fidelity check
Read 2 Kings 25:1–21 as a narrated sequence, not a list of dates to harmonize. Watch the movement: siege, famine, breach, flight, capture, then the burning of the house of Yahweh and the carrying away of people and vessels. The risks are real. We may treat the numbers as a modern chronicle and miss the narrator's shaping, or we may spiritualize the destruction until the actual deportees disappear. Notice who is named: priests, officers, scribes, fighting men, and separately the poorest left to work the vineyards and fields.
Evangelical readers agree on who was taken and who was left, but differ on how Jeremiah's seventy years relate to the several deportations, including the earlier one under Jehoiachin. Some read the dates as a tight record; others see deliberate arrangement for theological effect. Readers also differ on how directly to tie the fall to the sins named nearby, and how far the temple's burning patterns later judgment. What stays central: Yahweh himself is said to bring this on covenant unfaithfulness, real people from a real land are exiled, and the poorest are not forgotten.
Studies that take up 2 Kings 25:1-21 from another angle
For the wider story, see 2 Kings 1: Ahaziah's Fall and Elijah's Fire on the reforms that preceded this siege, 2 Kings 10: Jehu's Purge and the Fall of Baal on the prophets who spoke into the exile, 2 Kings 11: Athaliah's Usurpation and Joash's Coronation on the return from Babylon, and 2 Kings 12: Jehoash Repairs the Temple on how the New Testament looks back on this period.
Frequently asked questions
Who was actually taken into exile when Jerusalem fell?
The text names three groups carried away by Nebuzaradan: the residue of the people left in the city, those who had already fallen away to the king of Babylon, and the residue of the multitude (2 Kings 25:11). Alongside them, a smaller group was taken to Riblah and executed rather than deported, including the chief priest, the second priest, the keepers of the threshold, an officer over the men of war, five men who saw the king's face, the scribe who mustered the people, and sixty men of the land (2 Kings 25:18–21). The chapter's summary line is that Judah was carried away captive out of his land.
Why were the poorest people left in the land instead of being deported?
The text simply reports that the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to work the vineyards and fields (2 Kings 25:12). It gives no motive, so the reason has to be inferred from the setting rather than read out of the verse. Leaving laborers behind kept the land productive and served Babylon's interests in a province it now governed. The point the passage makes is not that poverty was a blessing, but that the social order was turned upside down: those with the least were the ones who stayed.
Was the exile a punishment from God or simply the result of Babylonian power?
The passage holds both together without embarrassment. Verse 20 of chapter 24 says this happened through the anger of Yahweh, until he had cast them out from his presence, and the closing line of chapter 25 says Judah was carried away captive out of his land. At the same time the narrative is full of concrete Babylonian action: siege works, a breach in the wall, fire, broken walls, and named officials. Babylon is genuinely responsible, and God is genuinely at work. What the text does not do is turn this covenant event into a rule for reading any individual's displacement as a direct judgment from God.
