Jeremiah 52
Holman Christian Standard Bible
The Fall of Jerusalem
52 Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king and reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah. 2 Zedekiah did what was evil in the Lord’s sight just as Jehoiakim had done.(A) 3 Because of the Lord’s anger, it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that He finally banished them from His presence. Nevertheless, Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.(B)
4 In the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem with his entire army. They laid siege to the city and built a siege wall all around it. 5 The city was under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year.
6 By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that the people of the land had no food. 7 Then the city was broken into, and all the warriors fled. They left the city by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans surrounded the city. They made their way along the route to the Arabah.(C) 8 The Chaldean army pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. Zedekiah’s entire army was scattered from him. 9 The Chaldeans seized the king and brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him.
10 At Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes and also slaughtered the Judean commanders. 11 Then he blinded Zedekiah and bound him with bronze chains. The king of Babylon brought Zedekiah to Babylon, where he kept him in custody[a] until his dying day.(D)
12 On the tenth day of the fifth month—which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, entered Jerusalem as the representative of[b] the king of Babylon. 13 He burned the Lord’s temple, the king’s palace, all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the nobles. 14 The whole Chaldean army with the commander of the guards tore down all the walls surrounding Jerusalem.(E) 15 Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, deported some of the poorest of the people, as well as the rest of the people who were left in the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen. 16 But some of the poorest people of the land Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, left to be vinedressers and farmers.(F)
17 Now the Chaldeans broke into pieces the bronze pillars for the Lord’s temple and the water carts and the bronze reservoir that were in the Lord’s temple,(G) and carried all the bronze to Babylon. 18 They took the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling basins, dishes, and all the bronze articles used in the temple service. 19 The commander of the guards took away the bowls, firepans, sprinkling basins, pots, lampstands, pans, and drink offering bowls(H)—whatever was gold or silver.
20 As for the two pillars, the one reservoir, and the 12 bronze bulls under the water carts that King Solomon had made for the Lord’s temple, the weight of the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure. 21 One pillar was 27 feet[c] tall, had a circumference of 18 feet,[d] was hollow—four fingers thick— 22 and had a bronze capital on top of it.(I) One capital, encircled by bronze latticework and pomegranates, stood 7½ feet[e] high. The second pillar was the same, with pomegranates. 23 Each capital had 96 pomegranates all around it. All the pomegranates around the latticework numbered 100.
24 The commander of the guards also took away Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest of the second rank, and the three doorkeepers. 25 From the city he took a court official who had been appointed over the warriors; seven trusted royal aides[f] found in the city; the secretary of the commander of the army, who enlisted the people of the land for military duty; and 60 men from the common people who were found within the city. 26 Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 27 The king of Babylon put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah went into exile from its land.(J)
28 These are the people Nebuchadnezzar deported:(K) in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews; 29 in his eighteenth year,[g] 832 people from Jerusalem; 30 in Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year, Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, deported 745 Jews. All together 4,600 people were deported.
Jehoiachin Pardoned
31 On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Judah’s King Jehoiachin, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, pardoned King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him from prison. 32 He spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon. 33 So Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes, and he dined regularly in the presence of the king of Babylon for the rest of his life. 34 As for his allowance, a regular allowance was given to him by the king of Babylon, a portion for each day until the day of his death, for the rest of his life.(L)
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 52:11 Lit in a house of guards
- Jeremiah 52:12 Lit Jerusalem; he stood before
- Jeremiah 52:21 Lit 18 cubits
- Jeremiah 52:21 Lit 12 cubits
- Jeremiah 52:22 Lit five cubits
- Jeremiah 52:25 Lit seven men who look on the king’s face
- Jeremiah 52:29 Some Hb mss, Syr add he deported
Psalm 74
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Psalm 74
Prayer for Israel
A Maskil of Asaph.(A)
1 Why have You rejected us forever, God?
Why does Your anger burn
against the sheep of Your pasture?(B)
2 Remember Your congregation,
which You purchased long ago
and redeemed as the tribe for Your own possession.(C)
Remember Mount Zion where You dwell.(D)
3 Make Your way[a] to the everlasting ruins,
to all that the enemy has destroyed in the sanctuary.(E)
4 Your adversaries roared in the meeting place
where You met with us.[b]
They set up their emblems as signs.(F)
5 It was like men in a thicket of trees,
wielding axes,(G)
6 then smashing all the carvings
with hatchets and picks.(H)
7 They set Your sanctuary on fire;
they utterly[c] desecrated
the dwelling place of Your name.(I)
8 They said in their hearts,
“Let us oppress them relentlessly.”
They burned down every place throughout the land
where God met with us.[d](J)
9 There are no signs for us to see.
There is no longer a prophet.
And none of us knows how long this will last.(K)
10 God, how long will the enemy mock?
Will the foe insult Your name forever?(L)
11 Why do You hold back Your hand?
Stretch out[e] Your right hand and destroy them!(M)
12 God my King is from ancient times,
performing saving acts on the earth.(N)
13 You divided the sea with Your strength;
You smashed the heads of the sea monsters in the waters;(O)
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
You fed him to the creatures of the desert.(P)
15 You opened up springs and streams;(Q)
You dried up ever-flowing rivers.(R)
16 The day is Yours, also the night;
You established the moon and the sun.(S)
17 You set all the boundaries of the earth;
You made summer and winter.(T)
18 Remember this: the enemy has mocked Yahweh,
and a foolish people has insulted Your name.(U)
19 Do not give the life of Your dove to beasts;[f]
do not forget the lives of Your poor people forever.(V)
20 Consider the covenant,(W)
for the dark places of the land are full of violence.(X)
21 Do not let the oppressed turn away in shame;
let the poor and needy praise Your name.(Y)
22 Rise up, God, defend Your cause!(Z)
Remember the insults
that fools bring against You all day long.(AA)
23 Do not forget the clamor of Your adversaries,
the tumult of Your opponents that goes up constantly.(AB)
Footnotes
- Psalm 74:3 Lit Lift up Your steps
- Psalm 74:4 Lit in Your meeting place
- Psalm 74:7 Lit they to the ground
- Psalm 74:8 Lit every meeting place of God in the land
- Psalm 74:11 Lit From Your bosom
- Psalm 74:19 One Hb ms, LXX, Syr read Do not hand over to beasts a soul that praises You
Lamentations 1
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Lament over Jerusalem
א Alef
1 How[a] she sits alone,(A)
the city(B) once crowded with people!
She who was great among the nations
has become like a widow.(C)
The princess among the provinces
has been put to forced labor.
ב Bet
2 She weeps aloud during the night,(D)
with tears on her cheeks.
There is no one to offer her comfort,
not one from all her lovers.[b](E)
All her friends have betrayed her;
they have become her enemies.
ג Gimel
3 Judah has gone into exile
following[c] affliction and harsh slavery;
she lives among the nations
but finds no place to rest.(F)
All her pursuers have overtaken her
in narrow places.
ד Dalet
4 The roads to Zion(G) mourn,
for no one comes to the appointed festivals.(H)
All her gates are deserted;
her priests groan,
her young women grieve,
and she herself is bitter.
ה He
5 Her adversaries have become her masters;(I)
her enemies are at ease,(J)
for the Lord has made her suffer
because of her many transgressions.
Her children have gone away
as captives before the adversary.
ו Vav
6 All her splendor(K) has vanished
from Daughter Zion.(L)
Her leaders are like stags
that find no pasture;
they walk away exhausted
before the hunter.(M)
ז Zayin
7 During the days of her affliction and homelessness(N)
Jerusalem remembers all her precious belongings
that were hers in days of old.
When her people fell into the adversary’s hand,
she had no one to help.
The adversaries looked at her,
laughing over her downfall.
ח Khet
8 Jerusalem has sinned grievously;
therefore, she has become an object of scorn.[d]
All who honored her now despise her,
for they have seen her nakedness.
She herself groans and turns away.
ט Tet
9 Her uncleanness stains her skirts.(O)
She never considered her end.
Her downfall was astonishing;(P)
there was no one to comfort her.
Lord, look on my affliction,
for the enemy triumphs!
י Yod
10 The adversary has seized
all her precious belongings.
She has even seen the nations
enter her sanctuary—
those You had forbidden
to enter Your assembly.(Q)
כ Kaf
11 All her people groan
while they search for bread.(R)
They have traded their precious belongings for food
in order to stay alive.(S)
Lord, look and see
how I have become despised.
ל Lamed
12 Is this nothing to you, all you who pass by?(T)
Look and see!
Is there any pain like mine,
which was dealt out to me,
which the Lord made me suffer
on the day of His burning anger?(U)
מ Mem
13 He sent fire from heaven(V) into my bones;
He made it descend.[e](W)
He spread a net for my feet(X)
and turned me back.
He made me desolate,
sick all day long.
נ Nun
14 My transgressions have been formed into a yoke,[f][g](Y)
fastened together by His hand;
they have been placed on my neck,
and the Lord has broken my strength.
He has handed me over
to those I cannot withstand.
ס Samek
15 The Lord has rejected(Z)
all the mighty men within me.
He has summoned an army[h] against me
to crush my young warriors.
The Lord has trampled Virgin Daughter Judah(AA)
like grapes in a winepress.(AB)
ע Ayin
16 I weep because of these things;
my eyes flow[i] with tears.(AC)
For there is no one nearby to comfort me,(AD)
no one to keep me alive.
My children are desolate
because the enemy has prevailed.
פ Pe
17 Zion stretches out her hands;
there is no one to comfort her.
The Lord has issued a decree against Jacob
that his neighbors should be his adversaries.
Jerusalem has become
something impure(AE) among them.
צ Tsade
18 The Lord is just,
for I have rebelled against His command.(AF)
Listen, all you people;
look at my pain.
My young men and women
have gone into captivity.(AG)
ק Qof
19 I called to my lovers,(AH)
but they betrayed me.
My priests and elders
perished in the city
while searching for food
to keep themselves alive.(AI)
ר Resh
20 Lord, see how I am in distress.
I am churning within;(AJ)
my heart is broken,[j]
for I have been very rebellious.
Outside, the sword takes the children;
inside, there is death.(AK)
שׁ Shin
21 People have heard me groaning,(AL)
but there is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies have heard of my misfortune;
they are glad that You have caused it.(AM)
Bring on the day You have announced,
so that they may become like me.(AN)
ת Tav
22 Let all their wickedness come before You,
and deal with them
as You have dealt with me
because of all my transgressions.(AO)
For my groans are many,
and I am sick at heart.
Footnotes
- Lamentations 1:1 The stanzas in Lm 1–4 form an acrostic.
- Lamentations 1:2 = Jerusalem’s political allies
- Lamentations 1:3 Or because of
- Lamentations 1:8 Or become impure
- Lamentations 1:13 DSS, LXX; MT reads bones, and it prevailed against them
- Lamentations 1:14 Some Hb mss, LXX read He kept watch over my transgressions
- Lamentations 1:14 Or The yoke of my transgressions is bound; Hb obscure
- Lamentations 1:15 Or has announced an appointed time
- Lamentations 1:16 Lit my eye, my eye flows
- Lamentations 1:20 Lit is turned within me
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