Jeremiah 52

Zedekiah 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.

1Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah from the town of Libnah.

2And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

2Zedekiah did what the LORD said was wrong. He acted just like King Jehoiakim had done before him.

3For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

3The LORD was angry with Jerusalem and Judah. In the end he sent the people away from him. Zedekiah also turned against the king of Babylon and would not obey him.

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 pitched against it, and built forts against it round about.

4It was Zedekiah's ninth year as king, on the tenth day of the tenth month. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came with his whole army. They camped around Jerusalem and piled up dirt walls to attack it.

5So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.

5The army stayed around the city until Zedekiah's eleventh year as king.

6And in 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.

6By the ninth day of the fourth month, the people were starving. There was no food left in the city.

7Then the city was broken up, 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 by the city round about:) and they went by the way of the plain.

7Then the enemy broke a hole through the city wall. All the soldiers of Judah ran away at night. They went out the gate between the two walls, near the king's garden. The Chaldeans, the soldiers from Babylon, were all around the city. The men of Judah ran toward the flat land called 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.

8But the army from Babylon chased the king. They caught Zedekiah on the flat land near Jericho. All his soldiers had scattered and left him alone.

9Then they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; where he gave judgment upon him.

9They took the king to the king of Babylon at Riblah, in the land of Hamath. There the king of Babylon decided what would happen to him.

10And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah.

10At Riblah the king of Babylon killed Zedekiah's sons while Zedekiah watched. He killed all the leaders of Judah too.

11Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.

11Then he blinded Zedekiah's eyes. He tied him with bronze chains and took him to Babylon. Zedekiah stayed locked up there until the day he died.

12Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, which served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem,

12On the tenth day of the fifth month, Nebuzaradan came into Jerusalem. He was the captain of the king's guard and worked for the king of Babylon. This was Nebuchadnezzar's nineteenth year as king.

13And burned the house of the LORD, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men, burned he with fire:

13He burned down the LORD's temple and the king's palace. He burned all the houses of Jerusalem, including every large building.

14And all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down all the walls of Jerusalem round about.

14The whole army from Babylon was there with the captain. They knocked down all the walls around Jerusalem.

15Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive certain of the poor of the people, and the residue of the people that remained in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.

15Nebuzaradan the captain took people away to Babylon. He took some of the poorest people and those still left in the city. He also took the men who had gone over to the king of Babylon, and the workers who were left.

16But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left certain of the poor of the land for vinedressers and for husbandmen.

16But Nebuzaradan let some of the poorest people stay in the land. They stayed to care for the grapevines and the fields.

17Also the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brasen sea that was in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans brake, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon.

17In the LORD's temple stood tall bronze pillars, bronze stands, and a huge bronze bowl called the Sea. The soldiers from Babylon broke them apart. They carried all the bronze to Babylon.

NoteThe KJV says "brass," but the metal was bronze, which is copper mixed with tin.

18The caldrons also, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away.

18They also took the pots, the shovels, and the tools for trimming lamp wicks. They took the sprinkling bowls, the dishes, and every bronze tool used in the temple.

19And the basons, and the firepans, and the bowls, and the caldrons, and the candlesticks, and the spoons, and the cups; that which was of gold in gold, and that which was of silver in silver, took the captain of the guard away.

19The captain of the guard took the basins and the pans for burning incense. He took bowls, pots, lampstands, dishes, and cups. He took everything made of pure gold or fine silver.

20The two pillars, one sea, and twelve brasen bulls that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the LORD: the brass of all these vessels was without weight.

20King Solomon had made all this for the LORD's temple long ago. There were two pillars, the Sea, twelve bronze bulls under it, and the stands. There was so much bronze that no one could weigh it.

21And concerning the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a fillet of twelve cubits did compass it; and the thickness thereof was four fingers: it was hollow.

21Each pillar was eighteen cubits tall. It measured twelve cubits around. It was hollow, and its wall was as thick as four fingers.

NoteA cubit was about 18 inches, the length from a man's elbow to his fingertips. So each pillar was about 27 feet tall.

22And a chapiter of brass was upon it; and the height of one chapiter was five cubits, with network and pomegranates upon the chapiters round about, all of brass. The second pillar also and the pomegranates were like unto these.

22On top of each pillar sat a bronze cap five cubits high. Around the cap was a net design with bronze pomegranates, a round fruit. The second pillar and its pomegranates looked the same.

23And there were ninety and six pomegranates on a side; and all the pomegranates upon the network were an hundred round about.

23There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides. In all, one hundred pomegranates went around the net design.

24And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the door:

24The captain of the guard took Seraiah, the chief priest. He took Zephaniah, the priest just under him. He took the three men who guarded the temple doors.

25He took also out of the city an eunuch, which had the charge of the men of war; and seven men of them that were near the king’s person, which were found in the city; and the principal scribe 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.

25From the city he took a palace officer who was in charge of the soldiers. He took seven men who helped the king closely. He took the army's chief writer, who signed men up to fight. He also took sixty ordinary men found in the city.

26So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah.

26Nebuzaradan the captain took all these men to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

27And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death in Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive out of his own land.

27There at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon had them all killed. So the people of Judah were taken away from their own land.

28This is the people whom Nebuchadrezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year three thousand Jews and three and twenty:

28Here are the people Nebuchadnezzar took away. In his seventh year he took 3,023 Jews.

29In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty and two persons:

29In his eighteenth year he took 832 people from Jerusalem.

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.

30In his twenty-third year, Nebuzaradan the captain took 745 Jews. Altogether, 4,600 people were taken away.

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 Evilmerodach 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,

31Jehoiachin, an earlier king of Judah, had been a prisoner for thirty-seven years. Then Evil-merodach became king of Babylon. In his first year, on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month, he was kind to Jehoiachin and let him out of prison.

NoteThe KJV says the king "lifted up the head" of Jehoiachin. That old phrase means he treated him kindly and set him free.

32And spake kindly unto him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon,

32He spoke kindly to Jehoiachin. He gave him a seat of honor higher than the other kings living in Babylon.

33And changed his prison garments: and he did continually eat bread before him all the days of his life.

33Jehoiachin took off his prison clothes. He ate at the king's table every day for the rest of his life.

34And for his diet, there was a continual diet given him of the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.

34The king of Babylon gave him food every day, as much as he needed. This went on until the day he died.