FRAMEWORKS:
Jeremiah 52: An Historical Appendix
[Preliminary
Comment: This final chapter simply reiterates in more
detail what happened to Jerusalem [see ch.39 on] to bring to an
end Zedekiah's reign and take the people into exile: the end of
Zedekiah, the fall and destruction of the city and temple, and
the deportation of the people.]
v.1
Zedekiah's wrongdoing
v.1
Zedekiah
was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in
Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother's name was Hamutal daughter
of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah.
v.2
He
did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as Jehoiakim had done.
v.3,4
It was this that had caused Nebuchadnezzar to be raised up against
them
v.3
It
was because of the Lord 's anger that all this happened to Jerusalem
and Judah, and in the end he thrust them from his presence.
Now
Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
v.4
So
in the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, on the tenth day of the
tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem
with his whole army. They encamped outside the city and built
siege works all around it.
v.5,6
A terrible siege ensued
v.5
The
city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
v.6
By
the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city had become
so severe that there was no food for the people to eat.
v.7-9
The city fell, Zedekiah fled but was captured
v.7
Then
the city wall was broken through, and the whole army fled. They
left the city at night through the gate between the two walls
near the king's garden, though the Babylonians were surrounding
the city. They fled towards the Arabah,
v.8
but
the Babylonian army pursued King Zedekiah and overtook him in
the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him
and scattered,
v.9
and
he was captured.
v.9b-11
Then the king was punished and his sons killed
He
was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath,
where he pronounced sentence on him.
v.10
There
at Riblah the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before
his eyes; he also killed all the officials of Judah.
v.11
Then
he put out Zedekiah's eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and
took him to Babylon, where he put him in prison till the day of
his death.
v.12-16
Then the Babylonians completely destroyed the city
v.12
On
the tenth day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar
king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard,
who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
v.13
He
set fire to the temple of the Lord , the royal palace and all
the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down.
v.14
The
whole Babylonian army, under the commander of the imperial guard,
broke down all the walls around Jerusalem
v.15
Nebuzaradan
the commander of the guard carried into exile some of the poorest
people and those who remained in the city, along with the rest
of the craftsmen
and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon.
v.16
But
Nebuzaradan left behind the rest of the poorest people of the
land to work the vineyards and fields.
v.17-23
The dismantling of the temple
v.17
The
Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the movable stands and
the bronze Sea that were at the temple of the Lord
and they carried
all the bronze to Babylon.
v.18
They
also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls,
dishes and all the bronze articles used in the temple service.
v.19
The
commander of the imperial guard took away the basins, censers,
sprinkling bowls, pots, lampstands, dishes and bowls used for
drink offerings – all that were made of pure gold or silver.
v.20
The
bronze from the two pillars, the Sea and the twelve bronze bulls
under it, and the movable stands, which King Solomon had made
for the temple of the Lord,
was more than could be weighed.
v.21
Each
pillar was eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference;
each was four fingers thick, and hollow.
v.22
The
bronze capital on the top of one pillar was five cubits high and
was decorated with a network and pomegranates of bronze all around.
The other pillar, with its pomegranates, was similar.
v.23
There
were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; the total number of
pomegranates above the surrounding network was a hundred.
v.24-30
The outcome of the people
v.24
The
commander of the guard took as prisoners Seraiah the chief priest,
Zephaniah the priest next in rank and the three doorkeepers.
v.25
Of
those still in the city, he took the officer in charge of the
fighting men, and seven royal advisers. He also took the secretary
who was chief officer in charge of conscripting the people of
the land, sixty of whom were found in the city.
v.26
Nebuzaradan
the commander took them all and brought them to the king of Babylon
at Riblah.
v.27
There
at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king had them executed.
So
Judah went into captivity, away from her land.
v.28
This
is the number of the people Nebuchadnezzar carried into exile:
in
the seventh year, 3,023 Jews;
v.29
in
Nebuchadnezzar's eighteenth year,
832
people from Jerusalem;
v.30
in
his twenty-third year,
745
Jews taken into exile by Nebuzaradan the commander of the imperial
guard.
There
were 4,600 people in all.
v.31-34
The outcome for Jehoiachin
v.31
In
the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah,
in the year Awel-Marduk became king of Babylon, on the twenty-fifth
day of the twelfth month, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah
and freed him from prison.
v.32
He
spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honour higher than
those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.
v.33
So
Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his
life ate regularly at the king's table.
v.34
Day
by day the king of Babylon gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance
as long as he lived, till the day of his death.