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Jeremiah 52
New English Translation

The Fall of Jerusalem

52 [a] Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal[b] daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah. 2 He did what displeased the Lord[c] just as Jehoiakim had done.

3 What 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.[d] Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 4 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and set up camp outside it.[e] 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.[f] 5 The city remained under siege until Zedekiah’s eleventh year. 6 By the ninth day of the fourth month[g] the famine in the city was so severe the residents[h] had no food. 7 They 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.[i] (The Babylonians had the city surrounded.) Then they headed for the rift valley.[j] 8 But the Babylonian army chased after the king. They caught up with Zedekiah in the plains[k] of Jericho, and his entire army deserted him. 9 They captured him and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah[l] in the territory of Hamath and he passed sentence on him there. 10 The 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. 11 He had Zedekiah’s eyes put out and had him bound in chains.[m] Then the king of Babylon had him led off to Babylon and he was imprisoned there until the day he died.

12 On the tenth[n] day of the fifth month,[o] in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard[p] who served[q] the king of Babylon, arrived in Jerusalem. 13 He burned down the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem, including every large house. 14 The whole Babylonian army that came with the captain of the royal guard tore down the walls that surrounded Jerusalem. 15 Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, took into exile some of the poor,[r] the rest of the people who remained in the city, those who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen. 16 But he[s] left behind some of the poor[t] and gave them fields and vineyards.

17 The 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 Sea.”[u] They took all the bronze to Babylon. 18 They also took the pots, shovels,[v] trimming shears,[w] basins, pans, and all the bronze utensils used by the priests.[x] 19 The captain of the royal guard took the gold and silver bowls, censers,[y] basins, pots, lampstands, pans, and vessels.[z] 20 The 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 stands[aa]) was too heavy to be weighed. 21 Each of the pillars was about 27 feet[ab] high, about 18 feet[ac] in circumference, three inches[ad] thick, and hollow. 22 The bronze top of one pillar was about 7½ feet[ae] high and had bronze latticework and pomegranate-shaped ornaments all around it. The second pillar with its pomegranate-shaped ornaments was like it. 23 There were 96 pomegranate-shaped ornaments on the sides; in all there were 100 pomegranate-shaped ornaments over the latticework that went around it.

24 The captain of the royal guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest who was second in rank, and the three doorkeepers.[af] 25 From 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 citizens[ag] for military service, and sixty citizens who were discovered in the middle of the city. 26 Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 27 The king of Babylon ordered them to be executed[ah] at Riblah in the territory of Hamath.

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

Jehoiachin in Exile

31 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, on the twenty-fifth[am] day of the twelfth month,[an] King Evil Merodach of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, pardoned[ao] King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him from prison. 32 He spoke kindly to him and gave him a more prestigious position than[ap] the other kings who were with him in Babylon. 33 Jehoiachin[aq] took off his prison clothes and ate daily in the king’s presence for the rest of his life. 34 He was given daily provisions by the king of Babylon for the rest of his life until the day he died.

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 52:1 sn 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. Jeremiah 52:1 tn Some textual witnesses support the Kethib (consonantal text) in reading “Hamital.”
  3. Jeremiah 52:2 tn Heb “what was evil in the eyes of the Lord.”
  4. Jeremiah 52:3 tn 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.
  5. Jeremiah 52:4 tn Or “against it.”
  6. Jeremiah 52:4 sn 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).
  7. Jeremiah 52:6 sn According to modern reckoning that would have been July 18, 586 b.c. The siege thus lasted almost a full eighteen months.
  8. Jeremiah 52:6 tn Heb “the people of the land.”
  9. Jeremiah 52:7 sn 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.
  10. Jeremiah 52:7 sn The rift valley (עֲרָבָה, ʿaravah) extends from Galilee to the Gulf of Aqaba. In this context the portion that they head to is the Jordan Valley near Jericho, intending to escape across the river to Moab or Ammon. It appears from 40:14 and 41:15 that the Ammonites were known to harbor fugitives from the Babylonians.
  11. Jeremiah 52:8 tn See the note at Jer 39:5.
  12. Jeremiah 52:9 sn 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.
  13. Jeremiah 52:11 tn Heb “fetters of bronze.” The more generic “chains” is used in the translation because “fetters” is a word unfamiliar to most modern readers.
  14. Jeremiah 52:12 tn The parallel account in 2 Kgs 25:8 has “seventh.”
  15. Jeremiah 52:12 sn The tenth day of the month would have been August 17, 586 b.c. in modern reckoning.
  16. Jeremiah 52:12 tn For the meaning of this phrase see BDB 371 s.v. טַבָּח 2 and compare the usage in Gen 39:1.
  17. Jeremiah 52:12 tn Heb “stood before.”
  18. Jeremiah 52:15 tn Heb “poor of the people.”
  19. Jeremiah 52:16 tn 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.
  20. Jeremiah 52:16 tn Heb “poor of the land.”
  21. Jeremiah 52:17 sn For discussion of the items listed here, see the study notes at Jer 27:19.
  22. Jeremiah 52:18 sn These shovels were used to clean the altar.
  23. Jeremiah 52:18 sn These trimming shears were used to trim the wicks of the lamps.
  24. Jeremiah 52:18 tn Heb “with which they served (or “fulfilled their duty”).”
  25. Jeremiah 52:19 sn The censers held the embers used for the incense offerings.
  26. Jeremiah 52:19 sn These vessels were used for drink offerings.
  27. Jeremiah 52:20 tc The translation follows the LXX (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 (hammekhonot, “the movable stands”), also begins with the article.
  28. Jeremiah 52:21 tn Heb “18 cubits.” A “cubit” was a unit of measure, approximately equivalent to a foot and a half.
  29. Jeremiah 52:21 tn Heb “12 cubits.” A “cubit” was a unit of measure, approximately equivalent to a foot and a half.
  30. Jeremiah 52:21 tn Heb “four fingers.”
  31. Jeremiah 52:22 tn Heb “5 cubits.” A “cubit” was a unit of measure, approximately equivalent to a foot and a half.
  32. Jeremiah 52:24 sn See the note at Jer 35:4.
  33. Jeremiah 52:25 tn Heb “men, from the people of the land” (also later in this verse).
  34. Jeremiah 52:27 tn Heb “struck them down and killed them.”
  35. Jeremiah 52:28 tn Heb “these are the people.”
  36. Jeremiah 52:28 sn This would be 597 b.c.
  37. Jeremiah 52:29 sn This would be 586 b.c.
  38. Jeremiah 52:30 sn This would be 581 b.c.
  39. Jeremiah 52:31 sn The parallel account in 2 Kgs 25:28 has “twenty-seventh.”
  40. Jeremiah 52:31 sn The twenty-fifth day would be March 20, 561 b.c. in modern reckoning.
  41. Jeremiah 52:31 tn Heb “lifted up the head of.”
  42. Jeremiah 52:32 tn Heb “made his throne above the throne of.”
  43. Jeremiah 52:33 tn The subject is unstated in the Hebrew text, but Jehoiachin is clearly the subject of the following verb.
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Jeremiah 52
New Catholic Bible

Historical Appendix

Chapter 52[a]

The Siege of Jerusalem. 1 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 2 He did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as Jehoiakim had done. 3 Indeed Jerusalem and Judah so aroused the anger of the Lord that he cast them away from his presence.

Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 4 Therefore, in the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, advanced against Jerusalem with his entire army. They encamped around the city and constructed siege-works against it on every side. 5 The city remained under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

6 On the ninth day of the fourth month there was such a severe famine in the city that there was no food available for the people to eat. 7 Then a breach was made in the city wall, and all of the soldiers fled, departing from the city under the cover of darkness by the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, and they set off in the direction of the Arabah, even though the Chaldeans were surrounding the city. 8 The army of the Chaldeans set off in pursuit of the king, and they overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, while his army deserted him and scattered in all directions.

9 After Zedekiah was captured, he was taken to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where the king of Babylon passed sentence on him. 10 He had the sons of Zedekiah slaughtered before their father’s eyes, and he also put to death the princes of Judah at Riblah. 11 Then the king of Babylon put out the eyes of Zedekiah, bound him in fetters, and took him to Babylon, confining him in prison until the day of his death.

12 The Fall of Jerusalem. On the tenth day of the fifth month—this was in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, arrived at Jerusalem as the representative of the king of Babylon. 13 He burned to the ground the house of the Lord, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every large house he ordered to be set afire. 14 Meanwhile, all the Chaldean troops who had accompanied the captain of the guard demolished the walls that surrounded Jerusalem.

15 Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, led into exile some of the poorest people and those who remained in the city, those deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the remaining artisans. 16 However, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, left behind some of the poorest people of the land to serve as vinedressers and farmers.

17 The Chaldeans broke up into pieces the pillars of bronze that were in the house of the Lord, and the wheeled stand and the bronze sea that were in the house of the Lord, and they carried away all the bronze to Babylon. 18 They removed the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the basins, the ladles, and all the bronze vessels used in worship. 19 The captain of the guard also took away the small bowls, the censers, the sprinkling bowls, the ash containers, the lampstands, the goblets, and the saucers—everything that was made of gold or of silver.

20 The bronze of the two pillars, of the one sea, and of the twelve oxen under the sea, and the wheeled stands that King Solomon had ordered to be made for the house of the Lord, encompassed more than could be weighed. 21 Each of the pillars was eighteen cubits high, and the circumference of each was twelve cubits; although it was hollow inside, its thickness was four fingers. 22 Upon it was a capital of bronze. The height of each capital was five cubits, encircled at the top of the capital with latticework and bronze pomegranates. 23 There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides, with one hundred pomegranates encircling the latticework.

24 The captain of the guard took as prisoners the chief priest Seraiah, Zephaniah, who was the next highest in rank, and the three guardians of the threshold. 25 He also took from the city an officer who had been in command of the soldiers, seven members of the king’s council who were discovered in the city, the secretary of the army commander who mustered the people of the land, and sixty of the common people who had not departed from the city.

26 Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, arrested these men and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 27 There at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon ordered them to be executed. Thus Judah went into captivity after being deported from its own land.

28 [b]This is the number of people whom Nebuchadnezzar led away into exile: in the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Judeans; 29 in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, eight hundred and thirty-two people were deported from Jerusalem; 30 in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took into exile seven hundred and forty-five Judeans. Thus there was a total of four thousand six hundred persons.

31 Honor Bestowed on Jehoiachin. In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, Evil-merodach, the king of Babylon, in the year he ascended the throne, pardoned Jehoia-chin, the king of Judah and ordered him to be released from prison. 32 He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor above the seats of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.

33 Jehoiachin laid aside his prison clothes, and for the rest of his life, he always dined at the king’s table. 34 In addition, the king of Babylon granted him a regular daily allowance for as long as he lived, up to the day of his death.

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 52:1 This final chapter, which is found almost identically in Jer 39:1-7; 2 Ki 24:18-20; 25:1-21, 27-30, is not from Jeremiah. It seems that toward the end of the Exile, the editor introduced it as a conclusion in which to render homage and justice to a prophet who had been so assailed and questioned during his lifetime.
  2. Jeremiah 52:28 This piece of information, which is dated according to the Babylonian calendar, shows that a third deportation was added to those of 599 and 587 B.C. The figures, which are doubtless incomplete, do not correspond to those in 2 Ki 24:14-16 and do not agree given the total number of deportees.
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