Jeremiah 52

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah, and she was from Libnah.

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.

NoteThis closing chapter is a historical appendix, not words of Jeremiah; it repeats almost word for word the account in 2 Kings 24:18–25:30. Zedekiah was the last king of Judah, placed on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar after the previous king, Jehoiachin, was deported in 597 BC. The Jeremiah named here as Zedekiah's grandfather is a man of Libnah, a town in southern Judah, not the prophet whose book this is.

2He did what the LORD said was evil, just as Jehoiakim had done.

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

NoteJehoiakim ruled Judah from 609 to 598 BC. Comparing one king to another this way is the standard formula the books of Kings use to sum up a reign.

3All of this happened in Jerusalem and Judah because the LORD was angry, until at last he drove them out of his presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

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.

NoteZedekiah ruled as a vassal: Babylon had installed him and he had sworn loyalty to Nebuchadnezzar. To "rebel" was to break that oath and stop paying tribute, which under the conventions of the time invited a punitive invasion.

4In the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army. They camped around the city and built siege works all around it.

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.

NoteNebuchadrezzar is an alternative spelling of Nebuchadnezzar, and is in fact closer to the Babylonian form of the name. The Hebrew year began in spring, so the tenth month falls in December–January; this dates the start of the siege to January 588 BC. "Siege works" were earth ramps and walls thrown up around a city to cut it off and to raise attackers level with its defenses.

5So the city was held under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

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

6By the ninth day of the fourth month, the hunger in the city was so bad that the people there had no food at all.

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.

NoteThe fourth month is June–July, so the city had been cut off for about eighteen months by this point.

7Then the city wall was broken through. All the soldiers ran away at night through the gate between the two walls, near the king's garden, even though the Chaldeans had the city surrounded. They headed toward the Jordan Valley.

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.

Note"Chaldeans" was a name for the ruling people of southern Babylonia and is used throughout this chapter simply to mean the Babylonians. The Hebrew word rendered "Jordan Valley" is the Arabah, the deep rift valley running south from the Sea of Galilee through the Dead Sea, the escape route led east and downhill toward Jericho.

8But the Chaldean army chased the king and caught up with Zedekiah on the flat land near Jericho, and his whole army scattered and left him.

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.

9They seized the king and brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, where the king of Babylon passed sentence on him.

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.

NoteRiblah, in the land of Hamath, lay far to the north in what is now Syria, roughly two hundred miles from Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar had made it his field headquarters for the whole campaign, which is why the captured king had to be "brought up" to him there.

10The king of Babylon killed Zedekiah's sons while Zedekiah watched. He also killed all the officials of Judah there at Riblah.

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

11Then he put out Zedekiah's eyes, bound him with bronze chains, took him to Babylon, and kept him in prison until the day he died.

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.

NoteBlinding a defeated rebel was a recognized Babylonian and Assyrian punishment: it left the man alive as a public example but permanently unfit to rule or to lead an army.

12On the tenth day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan came into Jerusalem. He was the commander of the guard and a servant of the king of Babylon.

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,

NoteThe fifth month is July–August, dating the burning of the city to 586 BC, about a month after the walls were breached. The title behind "commander of the guard" is literally "chief of the slaughterers" or "chief butcher"; by this period it named a senior officer of the royal bodyguard, comparable to a general.

13He burned down the house of the LORD, the king's palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned with fire.

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:

Note"The house of the LORD" is the temple in Jerusalem, built by Solomon some four centuries earlier; this is the building whose furnishings are itemised in verses 17–23.

14And the whole Chaldean army that was with the commander of the guard tore down all the walls around Jerusalem.

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 commander of the guard took away as prisoners some of the poorest people, the rest of the people still left in the city, those who had gone over to the side of the king of Babylon, and the remaining skilled workers.

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.

Note"Those who had gone over to the side of the king of Babylon" are deserters, people who left the city during the siege and surrendered, a course Jeremiah had urged earlier in the book.

16But Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard left some of the poorest people of the land behind to take care of the vineyards and to farm the fields.

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

NoteLeaving the poorest behind to work the land was practical policy, not mercy: vineyards and fields left untended produced no harvest and no revenue for the empire.

17The Chaldeans also broke apart the bronze pillars in the house of the LORD, along with the stands and the large bronze basin called the Sea, and they carried all the bronze to Babylon.

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.

NoteThe two bronze pillars stood at the temple entrance and had names, Jachin and Boaz. The "Sea" was an enormous bronze basin holding water for the priests' ritual washing. The "stands" were wheeled bronze carts that carried smaller basins. Where older English says "brass," the metal meant is bronze, an alloy of copper and tin.

18They also took away the pots, the shovels, the tools for trimming lamp wicks, the sprinkling bowls, the dishes, and all the bronze objects used in the temple service.

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.

NoteThe King James "snuffers" are tools for trimming lamp wicks and "spoons" are small flat dishes; these are the working implements of the temple's daily routine, taken as plunder for their metal.

19The commander of the guard also took the basins, the fire pans for burning incense, the sprinkling bowls, the pots, the lampstands, the pans, and the bowls used for drink offerings. He took everything made of solid gold and everything made of solid silver.

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.

Note"Fire pans" (King James "firepans") carried live coals for burning incense. Drink offerings were measures of wine poured out as part of a sacrifice, so these bowls were the vessels used for that pouring.

20As for the two pillars, the one Sea, and the twelve bronze bulls under the stands, which King Solomon had made for the house of the LORD, the bronze from all these objects was too heavy to weigh.

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.

NoteThat the bronze was "too heavy to weigh" is a stock expression for a quantity beyond reckoning, not a claim that anyone tried and failed.

21As for the pillars, each one stood eighteen cubits high, and a cord of twelve cubits would reach around it. Each was hollow, with walls four fingers thick.

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.

NoteA cubit was about eighteen inches, roughly the length of a forearm. So each pillar stood some twenty-seven feet high and measured about eighteen feet around, with a hollow shaft roughly three inches thick.

22On top of each pillar was a bronze cap five cubits high, decorated all around with bronze latticework and pomegranates. The second pillar, with its pomegranates, was made the same way.

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.

NoteA "capital" (King James "chapiter") is the decorated block crowning a column; at five cubits it added another seven and a half feet. The pomegranate, a round red fruit, was a common decorative motif in the ancient Near East.

23There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides, and a hundred pomegranates in all on the latticework that went around the top.

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

NoteThe two figures are not obviously consistent (ninety-six on the sides, a hundred in all) and the Hebrew leaves the relation unexplained. Readers have understood it either as ninety-six visible from the ground with four more at the corners, or as two different counts preserved side by side.

24The commander of the guard also took away Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest who was second in rank, and the three men who guarded the doors.

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

NoteThe chief priest was the temple's senior official; the "second" priest was his deputy. The doorkeepers controlled access to the temple courts and were officers of some standing, not menial porters. Taking these men was the removal of Judah's remaining religious leadership.

25From those still in the city he took a court official who was in charge of the soldiers, and seven men who were close advisers to the king. He also took the army commander's scribe, who signed up men for the army, and sixty ordinary men found inside the city.

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.

Note"Court official" translates a word that literally means eunuch, though by this period it had broadened to name a high royal officer whether or not he was castrated. The scribe who "signed up men for the army" kept the conscription lists. "Ordinary men" renders "people of the land," a phrase for the landholding free citizens of Judah as distinct from the court and the capital's officials.

26Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard took them all and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

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

27There at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death. So the people of Judah were carried away from their own land.

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.

28These are the people Nebuchadrezzar carried away as prisoners: in his seventh year, 3,023 Jews;

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

NoteThese deportation figures appear only in Jeremiah, not in the parallel account in 2 Kings, and the totals are strikingly small, probably counting adult men only, or only heads of households. The regnal years are also counted differently here than elsewhere in the Bible: Jeremiah's "seventh year" and "eighteenth year" correspond to the "eighth" and "nineteenth" in 2 Kings, because the two books differ over whether to count a king's partial first year.

29in his eighteenth year, 832 people from Jerusalem;

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

30in his twenty-third year, Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried away 745 Jews. In all, 4,600 people were taken away.

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.

NoteA third deportation in Nebuchadnezzar's twenty-third year, about 582 BC, is recorded only here; nothing else in the Bible describes it.

31In the thirty-seventh year after Jehoiachin king of Judah was taken prisoner, on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon showed him favor. It was Evil-merodach's first year as king, and he brought Jehoiachin out of prison.

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,

NoteJehoiachin was king before Zedekiah and had been deported to Babylon in 597 BC as a young man; thirty-seven years later he was still alive in custody. The King James "lifted up the head" is a Hebrew idiom for granting favor or restoring someone's standing, the same phrase can mean simply to release a prisoner. Evil-merodach is the Babylonian king Amel-Marduk, Nebuchadnezzar's son, who reigned from 562 BC. The twelfth month falls in February–March.

32He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than the seats of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.

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

NoteThe seating order at a royal table displayed rank publicly. Other captive or client kings were kept at the Babylonian court in the same way, and giving Jehoiachin the higher seat was a formal, visible act of favor.

33Jehoiachin took off his prison clothes and put on other clothes, and for the rest of his life he ate regularly at the king's table.

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

34The king of Babylon also gave him a steady food allowance, a set amount every day, until the day he died, for as long as he lived.

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.

NoteA fixed daily ration from the royal stores was the standard arrangement for dependants of the Babylonian court. Clay tablets excavated at Babylon list rations of oil issued to "Yaukin, king of the land of Yahud" and his sons, which is this same man.