^52:1¹ Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem² for eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal³ daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah. ^52:2He did what displeased the Lord⁴ just as Jehoiakim had done.

^52:3What follows is a record of what happened to Jerusalem and Judah because of the Lord’s anger when he drove them out of his sight.⁵ Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. ^52:4King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and set up camp outside it.⁶ They built siege ramps all around it. He arrived on the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year that Zedekiah ruled over Judah.⁷^52:5The city remained under siege until Zedekiah’s eleventh year. ^52:6By the ninth day of the fourth month⁸ the famine in the city was so severe the residents⁹ had no food. ^52:7They broke through the city walls, and all the soldiers tried to escape. They left the city during the night. They went through the gate between the two walls that is near the king’s garden.¹⁰ (The Babylonians had the city surrounded.) Then they headed for the Jordan Valley.¹¹^52:8But the Babylonian army chased after the king. They caught up with Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho,¹² and his entire army deserted him. ^52:9They captured him and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah¹³ in the territory of Hamath and he passed sentence on him there. ^52:10The king of Babylon had Zedekiah’s sons put to death while Zedekiah was forced to watch. He also had all the nobles of Judah put to death there at Riblah. ^52:11He had Zedekiah’s eyes put out and had him bound in chains.¹⁴ Then the king of Babylon had him led off to Babylon and he was imprisoned there until the day he died.

^52:12On the tenth¹⁵ day of the fifth month,¹⁶ in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard¹⁷ who served¹⁸ the king of Babylon, arrived in Jerusalem. ^52:13He burned down the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem, including every large house. ^52:14The whole Babylonian army that came with the captain of the royal guard tore down the walls that surrounded Jerusalem. ^52:15Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, took into exile some of the poor,¹⁹ the rest of the people who remained in the city, those who had deserted to him, and the rest of the craftsmen. ^52:16But he²⁰ left behind some of the poor²¹ and gave them fields and vineyards.

^52:17The Babylonians broke the two bronze pillars in the temple of the Lord, as well as the movable stands and the large bronze basin called the “The Sea.”²² They took all the bronze to Babylon. ^52:18They also took the pots, shovels,²³ trimming shears,²⁴ basins, pans, and all the bronze utensils used by the priests.²⁵^52:19The captain of the royal guard took the gold and silver bowls, censers,²⁶ basins, pots, lampstands, pans, and vessels.²⁷^52:20The bronze of the items that King Solomon made for the Lord’s temple (including the two pillars, the large bronze basin called “The Sea,” the twelve bronze bulls under “The Sea,” and the movable stands²⁸) was too heavy to be weighed. ^52:21Each of the pillars was about 27 feet²⁹ high, about 18 feet³⁰ in circumference, three inches³¹ thick, and hollow. ^52:22The bronze top of one pillar was about seven and one-half feet³² high and had bronze latticework and pomegranate-shaped ornaments all around it. The second pillar with its pomegranate-shaped ornaments was like it. ^52:23There were ninety-six pomegranate-shaped ornaments on the sides; in all there were one hundred pomegranate-shaped ornaments over the latticework that went around it.

^52:24The captain of the royal guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest who was second in rank, and the three doorkeepers.³³^52:25From the city he took an official who was in charge of the soldiers, seven of the king’s advisers who were discovered in the city, an official army secretary who drafted citizens³⁴ for military service, and sixty citizens who were discovered in the middle of the city. ^52:26Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ^52:27The king of Babylon ordered them to be executed³⁵ at Riblah in the territory of Hamath.

So Judah was taken into exile away from its land. ^52:28Here is the official record of the number of people³⁶ Nebuchadnezzar carried into exile: In the seventh year,³⁷ 3,023 Jews; ^52:29in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year,³⁸ 832 people from Jerusalem; ^52:30in Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year,³⁹ Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, carried into exile 745 Judeans. In all 4,600 people went into exile.

Jehoiachin in Exile

^52:31In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, on the twenty-fifth⁴⁰ day of the twelfth month,⁴¹ Evil-Merodach, in the first year of his reign, pardoned⁴² King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him from prison. ^52:32He spoke kindly to him and gave him a more prestigious position than⁴³ the other kings who were with him in Babylon. ^52:33Jehoiachin⁴⁴ took off his prison clothes and ate daily in the king’s presence for the rest of his life. ^52:34He was given daily provisions by the king of Babylon for the rest of his life until the day he died.

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Footnotes

1 This final chapter does not mention Jeremiah, but its description of the downfall of Jerusalem and exile of the people validates the prophet’s ministry.
2 For location see ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; .
3 Some textual witnesses support the Kethib (consonantal text) in reading “Hamital.”
4 Heb “what was evil in the eyes of the Lord.”
5 Heb “Surely (or “for”) because of the anger of the Lord this happened in Jerusalem and Judah until he drove them out from upon his face.” For the phrase “drive out of his sight,” see 7:15.
6 Or “against.”
7 This would have been January 15, 588 b.c. The reckoning is based on the calendar that begins the year in the spring (Nisan = March/April).
8 According to modern reckoning that would have been July 18, 586 b.c. The siege thus lasted almost a full eighteen months.
9 Heb “the people of the land.”
10 The king’s garden is mentioned again in Neh 3:15 in conjunction with the pool of Siloam and the stairs that go down from the city of David. This would have been in the southern part of the city near the Tyropean Valley which agrees with the reference to the “two walls” which were probably the walls on the eastern and western hills.
11 Heb “toward the Arabah.” The Arabah was the rift valley north and south of the Dead Sea. Here the intention was undoubtedly to escape across the Jordan to Moab or Ammon. It appears from 40:14; 41:15 that the Ammonites were known to harbor fugitives from the Babylonians.
12 For location see ; ; ; ; ; .
13 Riblah was a strategic town on the Orontes River in Syria. It was at a crossing of the major roads between Egypt and Mesopotamia. Pharaoh Necho had earlier received Jehoahaz there and put him in chains (2 Kgs 23:33) prior to taking him captive to Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar had set up his base camp for conducting his campaigns against the Palestinian states there and was now sitting in judgment on prisoners brought to him.
14 Heb “fetters of bronze.” The more generic “chains” is used in the translation because “fetters” is a word unfamiliar to most modern readers.
15 The parallel account in 2 Kgs 25:8 has “seventh.”
16 The tenth day of the month would have been August 17, 586 b.c. in modern reckoning.
17 For the meaning of this phrase see 371 טַבָּח 2 and compare the usage in Gen 39:1.
18 Heb “stood before.”
19 Heb “poor of the people.”
20 Heb “Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard.” However, the subject is clear from the preceding and modern English style would normally avoid repeating the proper name and title.
21 Heb “poor of the land.”
22 For discussion of the items listed here, see the study notes at Jer 27:19.
23 These shovels were used to clean the altar.
24 These trimming shears were used to trim the wicks of the lamps.
25 Heb “with which they served (or “fulfilled their duty”).”
26 The censers held the embers used for the incense offerings.
27 These vessels were used for drink offerings.
28 The translation follows the (Greek version), which reflects the description in 1 Kgs 7:25–26. The Hebrew text reads, “the twelve bronze bulls under the movable stands.” הַיָּם (hayyam, “The Sea”) has been accidentally omitted by homoioarcton; note that the following form, הַמְּכֹנוֹת (hammékhonot, “the movable stands”), also begins with the article.
29 Heb “eighteen cubits.” A “cubit” was a unit of measure, approximately equivalent to a foot and a half.
30 Heb “twelve cubits.” A “cubit” was a unit of measure, approximately equivalent to a foot and a half.
31 Heb “four fingers.”
32 Heb “five cubits.” A “cubit” was a unit of measure, approximately equivalent to a foot and a half.
33 See the note at .
34 Heb “men, from the people of the land” (also later in this verse).
35 Heb “struck them down and killed them.”
36 Heb “these are the people.”
37 This would be 597 b.c.
38 This would be 586 b.c.
39 This would be 581 b.c.
40 The parallel account in 2 Kgs 25:28 has “twenty-seventh.”
41 The twenty-fifth day would be March 20, 561 b.c. in modern reckoning.
42 Heb “lifted up the head of.”
43 Heb “made his throne above the throne of
44 The subject is unstated in the Hebrew text, but Jehoiachin is clearly the subject of the following verb.