Jeremiah 52

The Fall of Jerusalem Reviewed

52Zedekiah was ^atwenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of ^bLibnah. ²He also did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. ³For because of the anger of the Lord this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, till He finally cast them out from His presence. Then Zedekiah ^crebelled against the king of Babylon.

⁴Now it came to pass in the ^dninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around. ⁵So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. ⁶By the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. ⁷Then the city wall was broken through, and all the men of war fled and went out of the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden, even though the Chaldeans were near the city all around. And they went by way of the ¹plain.

⁸But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and they overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. All his army was scattered from him. ^9eSo they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he pronounced judgment on him. ^10fThen the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. And he killed all the princes of Judah in Riblah. ¹¹He also ^gput out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in ²bronze fetters, took him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.

The Temple and City Plundered and Burned

^12hNow in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month (ⁱwhich was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), ^jNebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. ¹³He burned the house of the Lord and the king’s house; all the houses of Jerusalem, that is, all the houses of the great, he burned with fire. ¹⁴And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around. ^15kThen Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive some of the poor people, the rest of the people who remained in the city, the defectors who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen. ¹⁶But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poor of the land as vinedressers and farmers.

^17lThe ^mbronze pillars that were in the house of the Lord, and the carts and the bronze Sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried all their bronze to Babylon. ¹⁸They also took away ⁿthe pots, the shovels, the trimmers, the ³bowls, the spoons, and all the bronze utensils with which the priests ministered. ¹⁹The basins, the firepans, the bowls, the pots, the lampstands, the spoons, and the cups, whatever was solid gold and whatever was solid silver, the captain of the guard took away. ²⁰The two pillars, one Sea, the twelve bronze bulls which were under it, and the carts, which King Solomon had made for the house of the Lord ^othe bronze of all these articles was beyond measure. ²¹Now concerning the ^ppillars: the height of one pillar was eighteen ⁴cubits, a measuring line of twelve cubits could measure its circumference, and its thickness was ⁵four fingers; it was hollow. ²²A capital of bronze was on it; and the height of one capital was five cubits, with a network and pomegranates all around the capital, all of bronze. The second pillar, with pomegranates was the same. ²³There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; ^qall the pomegranates, all around on the network, were one hundred.

The People Taken Captive to Babylonia

^24rThe captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, ^sZephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers. ²⁵He also took out of the city an ⁶officer who had charge of the men of war, seven men of the king’s close associates who were found in the city, the principal scribe 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 these and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ²⁷Then the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive from its own land.

^28tThese are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: ^uin the seventh year, ^vthree thousand and twenty-three Jews; ^29win the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred and thirty-two persons; ³⁰in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred and forty-five persons. All the persons were four thousand six hundred.

Jehoiachin Released from Prison

^31xNow it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, that ⁷Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, ^ylifted ⁸up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison. ³²And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a more prominent seat than those of the kings who were with him in Babylon. ³³So ⁹Jehoiachin changed from his prison garments, ^zand he ate bread regularly before the king all the days of his life. ³⁴And as for his provisions, there was a regular ration given him by the king of Babylon, a portion for each day until the day of his death, all the days of his life.