“In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the bodyguard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He burned the house of Yahweh, the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every great house he burned down. All the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem. Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, together with all the rest of the population. But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and tillers of the soil.”

Once again we have an exact date in a month, 5/17, in the 19^th year of the rule of King Nebuchadnezzar, or 587 BCE. Thus the Judah kingdom lasted 134 years after the fall of Samaria. The king of Babylon did not come himself, he sent the captain of his bodyguard to burn Jerusalem. He burned the temple of Yahweh and the palace of the king, as well as all the great houses of Jerusalem. He took all the people as captives. However, he left the poor people to take care of the vineyards and till the soil.