Jeremiah 52
52
The Fall of Jerusalem
1Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah. 2But Zedekiah did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, just as Jehoiakim had done. 3These things happened because of the Lord’s anger against the people of Jerusalem and Judah, until he finally banished them from his presence and sent them into exile.
Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 4So on January 15,#52:4a Hebrew on the tenth day of the tenth month, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. A number of events in Jeremiah can be cross-checked with dates in surviving Babylonian records and related accurately to our modern calendar. This day was January 15, 588 b.c. during the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, King Nebuchadnezzar#52:4b Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of Nebuchadnezzar; also in 52:12, 28, 29, 30. of Babylon led his entire army against Jerusalem. They surrounded the city and built siege ramps against its walls. 5Jerusalem was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah’s reign.
6By July 18 in the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s reign,#52:6 Hebrew By the ninth day of the fourth month [in the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s reign]. This day was July 18, 586 b.c.; also see note on 52:4a. the famine in the city had become very severe, and the last of the food was entirely gone. 7Then a section of the city wall was broken down, and all the soldiers fled. Since the city was surrounded by the Babylonians,#52:7a Or the Chaldeans; similarly in 52:8, 17. they waited for nightfall. Then they slipped through the gate between the two walls behind the king’s garden and headed toward the Jordan Valley.#52:7b Hebrew the Arabah.
8But the Babylonian troops chased King Zedekiah and overtook him on the plains of Jericho, for his men had all deserted him and scattered. 9They captured the king and took him to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath. There the king of Babylon pronounced judgment upon Zedekiah. 10The king of Babylon made Zedekiah watch as he slaughtered his sons. He also slaughtered all the officials of Judah at Riblah. 11Then he gouged out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him in bronze chains, and the king of Babylon led him away to Babylon. Zedekiah remained there in prison until the day of his death.
The Temple Destroyed
12On August 17 of that year,#52:12 Hebrew On the tenth day of the fifth month, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. This day was August 17, 586 b.c.; also see note on 52:4a. which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard and an official of the Babylonian king, arrived in Jerusalem. 13He burned down the Temple of the Lord, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He destroyed all the important buildings#52:13 Or destroyed the houses of all the important people. in the city. 14Then he supervised the entire Babylonian#52:14 Or Chaldean. army as they tore down the walls of Jerusalem on every side. 15Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took as exiles some of the poorest of the people, the rest of the people who remained in the city, the defectors who had declared their allegiance to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen. 16But Nebuzaradan allowed some of the poorest people to stay behind to care for the vineyards and fields.
17The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars in front of the Lord’s Temple, the bronze water carts, and the great bronze basin called the Sea, and they carried all the bronze away to Babylon. 18They also took all the ash buckets, shovels, lamp snuffers, basins, dishes, and all the other bronze articles used for making sacrifices at the Temple. 19The captain of the guard also took the small bowls, incense burners, basins, pots, lampstands, ladles, bowls used for liquid offerings, and all the other articles made of pure gold or silver.
20The weight of the bronze from the two pillars, the Sea with the twelve bronze oxen beneath it, and the water carts was too great to be measured. These things had been made for the Lord’s Temple in the days of King Solomon. 21Each of the pillars was 27 feet tall and 18 feet in circumference.#52:21a Hebrew 18 cubits [8.3 meters] tall and 12 cubits [5.5 meters] in circumference. They were hollow, with walls 3 inches thick.#52:21b Hebrew 4 fingers thick [8 centimeters]. 22The bronze capital on top of each pillar was 7-1/2 feet#52:22 Hebrew 5 cubits [2.3 meters]. high and was decorated with a network of bronze pomegranates all the way around. 23There were 96 pomegranates on the sides, and a total of 100 pomegranates on the network around the top.
24Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took with him as prisoners Seraiah the high priest, Zephaniah the priest of the second rank, and the three chief gatekeepers. 25And from among the people still hiding in the city, he took an officer who had been in charge of the Judean army; seven of the king’s personal advisers; the army commander’s chief secretary, who was in charge of recruitment; and sixty other citizens. 26Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took them all to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 27And there at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon had them all put to death. So the people of Judah were sent into exile from their land.
28The number of captives taken to Babylon in the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign#52:28 This exile in the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign occurred in 597 b.c. was 3,023. 29Then in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year#52:29 This exile in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign occurred in 586 b.c. he took 832 more. 30In Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year#52:30 This exile in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign occurred in 581 b.c. he sent Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, who took 745 more—a total of 4,600 captives in all.
Hope for Israel’s Royal Line
31In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, Evil-merodach ascended to the Babylonian throne. He was kind to#52:31a Hebrew He raised the head of. Jehoiachin and released him from prison on March 31 of that year.#52:31b Hebrew on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. This day was March 31, 561 b.c.; also see note on 52:4a. 32He spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and gave him a higher place than all the other exiled kings in Babylon. 33He supplied Jehoiachin with new clothes to replace his prison garb and allowed him to dine in the king’s presence for the rest of his life. 34So the Babylonian king gave him a regular food allowance as long as he lived. This continued until the day of his death.
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Jeremiah 52: NLT
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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Jeremiah 52
52
1Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 2And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. 3For through the anger of Jehovah did it come to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence.
And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 4And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it round about. 5So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. 6In the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. 7Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden (now the Chaldeans were against the city round about); and they went toward the Arabah. 8But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him. 9Then they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; and he gave judgment upon him. 10And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah. 11And he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.
12Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, who stood before the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem. 13And he burned the house of Jehovah, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, burned he with fire. 14And all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down all the walls of Jerusalem round about. 15Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the poorest of the people, and the residue of the people that were left in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon, and the residue of the multitude. 16But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen.
17And the pillars of brass that were in the house of Jehovah, and the bases and the brazen sea that were in the house of Jehovah, did the Chaldeans break in pieces, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon. 18The pots also, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the basins, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away. 19And the cups, and the firepans, and the basins, and the pots, and the candlesticks, and the spoons, and the bowls—that which was of gold, in gold, and that which was of silver, in silver,—the captain of the guard took away. 20The two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve brazen bulls that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made for the house of Jehovah—the brass of all these vessels was without weight. 21And as for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a line of twelve cubits did compass it; and the thickness thereof was four fingers: it was hollow. 22And a capital of brass was upon it; and the height of the one capital was five cubits, with network and pomegranates upon the capital round about, all of brass: and the second pillar also had like unto these, and pomegranates. 23And there were ninety and six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates were a hundred upon the network round about.
24And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold: 25and out of the city he took an officer that was set over the men of war; and seven men of them that saw the king’s face, that were found in the city; and the scribe of the captain of the host, who mustered the people of the land; and threescore men of the people of the land, that were found in the midst of the city. 26And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah. 27And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive out of his land.
28This is the people whom Nebuchadrezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year three thousand Jews and three and twenty; 29in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty and two persons; 30in the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadrezzar Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty and five persons: all the persons were four thousand and six hundred.
31And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison; 32and he spake kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon, 33and changed his prison garments. And Jehoiachin did eat bread before him continually all the days of his life: 34and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him by the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.
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