Jeremiah 52

CHAPTER 52

The Anger of Yahweh Towards Judah

^1aZedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was ^1bHamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of ^cLibnah.

²And he did ^awhat was evil in the sight of Yahweh, according to all that ^bJehoiakim had done.

³For through the ^aanger of Yahweh this came about in Jerusalem and Judah until He cast them out from His presence. And Zedekiah ^brebelled against the king of Babylon.

^4aNow it happened in the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his military force, against Jerusalem, and they camped against it and built a ^bsiege wall all around ¹it.

^5aSo the city came under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

⁶On the ninth day of the ^afourth month, the ^bfamine was so strong in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.

⁷Then the city was ^abreached, and all the ^bmen of war fled and went forth from the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls which was by the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were ^1call around the city. And they went by way of the Arabah.

⁸But the military force of the Chaldeans pursued the king and ^aovertook Zedekiah in the ¹plains of Jericho, and all his military force was scattered from him.

⁹Then they seized the king and ^abrought him up to the king of Babylon at ^bRiblah in the land of ^cHamath, and he ¹spoke his judgment on him.

¹⁰Then the king of Babylon ^aslaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also slaughtered all the ¹princes of Judah in Riblah.

¹¹Then he ^ablinded the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon and put him in prison until the day of his death.

^12aNow on the tenth day of the fifth month, which was the ^bnineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, ^cNebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, who stood before the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.

¹³And he ^aburned the house of Yahweh, the ^bking’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; even every large house he burned with fire.

¹⁴So all the military force of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard ^atore down all the walls around Jerusalem.

¹⁵Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard ^atook away into exile some of the poorest of the people, the rest of the people who remained in the city, the ^1bdefectors who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the artisans.

¹⁶But ^aNebuzaradan the captain of the guard had some of the poorest of the land remain to be vinedressers and ¹plowmen.

¹⁷Now the bronze ^apillars which belonged to the house of Yahweh and the ^bstands and the bronze ^csea, which were in the house of Yahweh, the Chaldeans shattered and carried all their bronze to Babylon.

¹⁸They also took away the ^apots, the shovels, the snuffers, the bowls, the ¹pans, and all the bronze vessels which were used to minister.

¹⁹And the captain of the guard also took away the ^acups, the firepans, the bowls, the pots, the lampstands, the ¹pans, and the offering bowls, what was fine gold and what was fine silver.

²⁰The two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve bronze bulls that were under ¹the sea, and the stands, which King Solomon had made for the house of Yahweh—the bronze of all these vessels was ^abeyond weight.

²¹As for the pillars, the ^aheight of each pillar was ¹eighteen cubits, and ²it was twelve cubits in ^bcircumference and four fingers in thickness, and hollow.

²²Now a ^acapital of bronze was on it; and the height of each capital was five cubits, with network and ^bpomegranates upon the capital all around, all of bronze. And the second pillar was like these, including pomegranates.

²³There were ninety-six ¹exposed pomegranates; all ^athe pomegranates numbered one hundred on the network all around.

²⁴Then the captain of the guard took ^aSeraiah the chief priest and ^bZephaniah the second priest, with the three ^1cdoorkeepers of the temple.

²⁵And from the city he took one official who was overseer of the men of war, and seven ¹of the ^aking’s advisers who were found in the city, and the scribe of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city.

²⁶And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and ^aled them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

²⁷Then the king of Babylon ^astruck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah ^bwent into exile from its land.

²⁸These are the people whom ^aNebuchadnezzar took away into exile: in the ¹seventh year 3,023 Jews;

²⁹in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar 832 persons from Jerusalem;

³⁰in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, ^aNebuzaradan the captain of the guard took away into exile 745 Jewish people; there were 4,600 persons in all.

^31aNow it happened in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth of the month, that ¹Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, ^blifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison;

^32aand he spoke to him good words, and he set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon.

³³So ¹Jehoiachin ^achanged his prison clothes and ^2bhad his meals in ³the king’s presence continually all the days of his life.

³⁴For his allowance, a ^acontinual allowance was given him by the king of Babylon, a daily portion all the days of his life until the day of his death.