The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah

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- Chapter 52 -

(Psalm 74:1–23; Psalm 79:1–13; 2 Kings 24:18–20; 2 Chronicles 36:11–14)

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became the king of Judah. He ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother was Hamutal, the daughter of a man named Jeremiah from Libnah.

Zedekiah did many things that Yahweh says are evil, like his father Jehoiakim had done.

The events described here happened because Yahweh was angry with the people of Jerusalem and of other places in Judah, and finally he exiled them and said that he did not want to have anything to do with them anymore. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

So, on the tenth day of the tenth month, when Zedekiah had been ruling for almost nine years, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon led his entire army to attack Jerusalem. They surrounded the city and built dirt ramps up to the top of the city walls to enable them to attack the city.

They continued to surround Jerusalem until Zedekiah had been ruling for almost eleven years.

When Zedekiah had been ruling for almost eleven years, on the ninth day of the fourth month of that year, the famine in the city had become very severe, and there was no more food for the people to eat.

Then the soldiers of Babylonia broke through a section of the city wall, and all the Israelite soldiers fled. But because the city was surrounded by soldiers from Babylonia, Zedekiah and the Israelite soldiers waited until it became dark. Then they left the city through the gate between the two walls behind the king’s garden. Then they ran toward the plain along the Jordan.

But the soldiers of Babylonia pursued King Zedekiah, and they caught up with him on the plains near Jericho. He was alone because all his men had all deserted him and had scattered.

The soldiers of Babylonia took him to the king of Babylon, who was at Riblah in the region of Hamath. There the king of Babylon told his soldiers what they should do to punish Zedekiah.

They forced Zedekiah to watch while they killed his sons and all the officials from Judah.

Then they gouged out Zedekiah’s eyes. They fastened him with bronze chains and took him to Babylon. They put him in a prison, and he remained there until the day that he died.

The Temple Destroyed

(2 Kings 25:8–17)

On the tenth day of the fifth month of that year, which was when King Nebuchadnezzar had been ruling for almost nineteen years, Nebuzaradan, who was the captain of the king’s bodyguards and one of the king’s officials, arrived in Jerusalem.

He commanded his soldiers to burn down the temple of Yahweh, the king’s palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem. They also destroyed all the important buildings in the city.

Then he supervised the soldiers from Babylonia while they tore down the walls on all sides of Jerusalem.

Then Nebuzaradan forced to go to Babylon some of the poorest people, those Israelites who had said they would support the king of Babylon, the rest of the craftsmen, and other people who had remained in Jerusalem.

But Nebuzaradan allowed some of the very poor people to remain in Judah to take care of the vineyards and fields.

The soldiers from Babylonia broke into pieces the huge bronze pillars that were in front of the temple, and the large bronze water tank called “The Sea,” and the ten bronze water carts, and they took all the bronze to Babylon.

They also took away the basins for holding the ashes from the burned sacrifices, the shovels for cleaning out the ashes, the tools for snuffing out the wicks of the lamps, the basins for holding the blood of the sacrificed animals, the dishes for incense, and all the other bronze items that were used when they made sacrifices at the temple.

Nebuzaradan also told his soldiers to take away the small bowls, the dishes for burning incense, the basins, pots, lampstands, bowls for incense, and the bowls used for pouring out the wine offerings. They took all the other items that were made of pure gold or silver.

The bronze from the two pillars, the large water tank called “The Sea” and the twelve statues of oxen that were beneath it, and the water carts, was more than they could weigh. Those things had been made for the temple during the time that Solomon was the king.

Each of the pillars was 9 meters tall and 16 meters around. They were hollow, and each had sides that were 8 centimeters thick.

The bronze head on the top of each pillar was two and one-half meters high and was decorated all around with a bronze network of figures that represented pomegranates.

There was a total of one hundred figures of pomegranates on the network at the top, 96 of which could be seen from the ground.

Captives Carried to Babylon

(2 Kings 25:18–21)

When Nebuzaradan returned to Babylon, he took with him as prisoners Seraiah the high priest, Zephaniah who was Seraiah’s deputy, and the three men who guarded the entrances to the temple.

He found some other people who were hiding in the city. So from them he took a commander of the army of Judah, seven of the king’s advisors, the army commander’s chief secretary who was in charge of recruiting soldiers for the army, and sixty other soldiers.

Nebuzaradan took them all to the king of Babylon, who was still at Riblah.

There at Riblah in the Hamath region, the king of Babylon commanded that they all be executed. Many of the people of Judah were forced to leave their own land.

The number of people who were captured and sent to Babylon at that time, when Nebuchadnezzar had been ruling for almost seven years, was 3,023.

Then, when he had been ruling for almost eighteen years, his soldiers took 832 more from Jerusalem to Babylonia.

When he had been ruling almost twenty-three years, he sent Nebuzaradan to Jerusalem again, and he brought back 745 more Israelites to Babylonia. That was a total of 4,600 Israelites who were taken to Babylonia.

Jehoiachin Released from Prison

(2 Kings 25:27–30)

After King Jehoiachin of Judah had been in prison in Babylon for almost thirty-seven years, Awel-Marduk became the king of Babylon. He was kind to Jehoiachin and ordered that he be released from prison. That was on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the year that Awel-Marduk became king.

He always spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and gave him a position in which he was honored more than all the other kings who had been exiled to Babylon.

He supplied new clothes for Jehoiachin, to replace the clothes that he had been wearing in prison. He also allowed Jehoiachin to eat with him every day, all during the rest of his life.

Every day, the king of Babylon gave him some money to buy the things that he needed. That continued until the day that Jehoiachin died.

(Psalm 74:1–23; Psalm 79:1–13; 2 Kings 24:18–20; 2 Chronicles 36:11–14)

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign. He reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

For through the LORD’s anger this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

In the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it round about.

So the city was besieged to the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

In the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.

Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled, and went 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 all around. The men of war went toward the Arabah,

but the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.

Then they took the king, and carried him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; and he pronounced judgment on him.

The king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. He also killed all the princes of Judah in Riblah.

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 until the day of his death.

The Temple Destroyed

(2 Kings 25:8–17)

Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, who stood before the king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem.

He burned the LORD’s house, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, he burned with fire.

All the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around.

Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the poorest of the people, and the rest of the people who were left in the city, and those who fell away, who defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.

But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poorest of the land to be vineyard keepers and farmers.

The Chaldeans broke the pillars of bronze that were in the LORD’s house and the bases and the bronze sea that were in the LORD’s house in pieces, and carried all of their bronze to Babylon.

They also took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the basins, the spoons, and all the vessels of bronze with which they ministered.

The captain of the guard took away the cups, the fire pans, the basins, the pots, the lamp stands, the spoons, and the bowls; that which was of gold, as gold, and that which was of silver, as silver.

They took the two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve bronze bulls that were under the bases, which King Solomon had made for the LORD’s house. The bronze of all these vessels was without weight.

As for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits;(a) and a line of twelve cubits encircled it; and its thickness was four fingers. It was hollow.

A capital of bronze was on it; and the height of the one capital was five cubits,(b) with network and pomegranates on the capital all around, all of bronze. The second pillar also had the same, with pomegranates.

There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates were one hundred on the network all around.

Captives Carried to Babylon

(2 Kings 25:18–21)

The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold,

and out of the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war; and seven men of those who saw the king’s face, who were found in the city; and the scribe of the captain of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the middle of the city.

Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah.

The king of Babylon struck them, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive out of his land.

This is the number of the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year, three thousand twenty-three Jews;

in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty-two persons;

in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty-five people. All the people numbered four thousand six hundred.

Jehoiachin Released from Prison

(2 Kings 25:27–30)

In the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the twenty-fifth day of the month, Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and released him from prison.

He spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon,

and changed his prison garments. Jehoiachin ate bread before him continually all the days of his life.

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.

Footnotes

(a)52:21 A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters.

(b)52:22 A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters.