14 Then he ordered the Babylonian soldiers to break down the walls around Jerusalem.
15 He led away the people left in the city, including everyone who had become loyal to Nebuchadnezzar, the rest of the skilled workers, and even some of the poor people of Judah.
16 Only the very poorest were left behind to work the vineyards and the fields.
17-20 Nebuzaradan ordered his soldiers to go to the temple and take everything made of gold or silver, including bowls, fire pans, sprinkling bowls, pans, lampstands, dishes for incense, and the cups for wine offerings. The Babylonian soldiers took all the bronze things used for worship at the temple, including the pans for hot ashes, and the shovels, lamp snuffers, sprinkling bowls, and dishes for incense. The soldiers also took everything else made of bronze, including the two columns that stood in front of the temple, the large bowl called the Sea, the twelve bulls that held it up, and the moveable stands. The soldiers broke these things into pieces so they could take them to Babylonia. There was so much bronze that it could not be weighed.
21 For example, the columns were about eight metres high and five metres around. They were hollow, but the bronze was about seventy-five millimetres thick.
22 Each column had a bronze cap over two metres high that was decorated with bronze designs. Some of these designs were like chains and others were like pomegranates.
23 There were ninety-six pomegranates evenly spaced around each column, and a total of one hundred pomegranates were above the chains.