52:17 carried all the brass of them to Babylon. It is significant that none of the accounts of the vessels carried from the temple to Babylon—whether here, in II Kings 25:13-17, or in II Chronicles 36:7—include the most important and valuable item of all. Even the brazen pillars and sea were taken, but not the ark of the covenant! God would never allow the ark and its contents—especially the stone tables of the law—to fall into pagan hands again. The ark was probably translated—like Enoch and Elijah—to the heavenly temple; the Apostle John saw it there (Revelation 11:19) when God translated him to the future to see and write the events of the last days.