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Jeremiah 52
New Living Translation

The Fall of Jerusalem

52 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah. 2 But Zedekiah did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, just as Jehoiakim had done. 3 These things happened because of the Lord’s anger against the people of Jerusalem and Judah, until he finally banished them from his presence and sent them into exile.

Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 4 So on January 15,[a] during the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, King Nebuchadnezzar[b] of Babylon led his entire army against Jerusalem. They surrounded the city and built siege ramps against its walls. 5 Jerusalem was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah’s reign.

6 By July 18 in the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s reign,[c] the famine in the city had become very severe, and the last of the food was entirely gone. 7 Then a section of the city wall was broken down, and all the soldiers fled. Since the city was surrounded by the Babylonians,[d] they waited for nightfall. Then they slipped through the gate between the two walls behind the king’s garden and headed toward the Jordan Valley.[e]

8 But the Babylonian troops chased King Zedekiah and overtook him on the plains of Jericho, for his men had all deserted him and scattered. 9 They captured the king and took him to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath. There the king of Babylon pronounced judgment upon Zedekiah. 10 The king of Babylon made Zedekiah watch as he slaughtered his sons. He also slaughtered all the officials of Judah at Riblah. 11 Then he gouged out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him in bronze chains, and the king of Babylon led him away to Babylon. Zedekiah remained there in prison until the day of his death.

The Temple Destroyed

12 On August 17 of that year,[f] which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard and an official of the Babylonian king, arrived in Jerusalem. 13 He burned down the Temple of the Lord, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He destroyed all the important buildings[g] in the city. 14 Then he supervised the entire Babylonian[h] army as they tore down the walls of Jerusalem on every side. 15 Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took as exiles some of the poorest of the people, the rest of the people who remained in the city, the defectors who had declared their allegiance to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen. 16 But Nebuzaradan allowed some of the poorest people to stay behind to care for the vineyards and fields.

17 The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars in front of the Lord’s Temple, the bronze water carts, and the great bronze basin called the Sea, and they carried all the bronze away to Babylon. 18 They also took all the ash buckets, shovels, lamp snuffers, basins, dishes, and all the other bronze articles used for making sacrifices at the Temple. 19 The captain of the guard also took the small bowls, incense burners, basins, pots, lampstands, ladles, bowls used for liquid offerings, and all the other articles made of pure gold or silver.

20 The weight of the bronze from the two pillars, the Sea with the twelve bronze oxen beneath it, and the water carts was too great to be measured. These things had been made for the Lord’s Temple in the days of King Solomon. 21 Each of the pillars was 27 feet tall and 18 feet in circumference.[i] They were hollow, with walls 3 inches thick.[j] 22 The bronze capital on top of each pillar was 7 1⁄2 feet[k] high and was decorated with a network of bronze pomegranates all the way around. 23 There were 96 pomegranates on the sides, and a total of 100 pomegranates on the network around the top.

24 Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took with him as prisoners Seraiah the high priest, Zephaniah the priest of the second rank, and the three chief gatekeepers. 25 And from among the people still hiding in the city, he took an officer who had been in charge of the Judean army; seven of the king’s personal advisers; the army commander’s chief secretary, who was in charge of recruitment; and sixty other citizens. 26 Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took them all to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 27 And there at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon had them all put to death. So the people of Judah were sent into exile from their land.

28 The number of captives taken to Babylon in the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign[l] was 3,023. 29 Then in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year[m] he took 832 more. 30 In Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year[n] he sent Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, who took 745 more—a total of 4,600 captives in all.

Hope for Israel’s Royal Line

31 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, Evil-merodach ascended to the Babylonian throne. He was kind to[o] Jehoiachin and released him from prison on March 31 of that year.[p] 32 He spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and gave him a higher place than all the other exiled kings in Babylon. 33 He supplied Jehoiachin with new clothes to replace his prison garb and allowed him to dine in the king’s presence for the rest of his life. 34 So the Babylonian king gave him a regular food allowance as long as he lived. This continued until the day of his death.

Footnotes

  1. 52:4a Hebrew on the tenth day of the tenth month, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. A number of events in Jeremiah can be cross-checked with dates in surviving Babylonian records and related accurately to our modern calendar. This day was January 15, 588 B.c.
  2. 52:4b Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of Nebuchadnezzar; also in 52:12, 28, 29, 30.
  3. 52:6 Hebrew By the ninth day of the fourth month [in the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s reign]. This day was July 18, 586 B.c.; also see note on 52:4a.
  4. 52:7a Or the Chaldeans; similarly in 52:8, 17.
  5. 52:7b Hebrew the Arabah.
  6. 52:12 Hebrew On the tenth day of the fifth month, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. This day was August 17, 586 B.c.; also see note on 52:4a.
  7. 52:13 Or destroyed the houses of all the important people.
  8. 52:14 Or Chaldean.
  9. 52:21a Hebrew 18 cubits [8.3 meters] tall and 12 cubits [5.5 meters] in circumference.
  10. 52:21b Hebrew 4 fingers thick [8 centimeters].
  11. 52:22 Hebrew 5 cubits [2.3 meters].
  12. 52:28 This exile in the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign occurred in 597 B.c.
  13. 52:29 This exile in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign occurred in 586 B.c.
  14. 52:30 This exile in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign occurred in 581 B.c.
  15. 52:31a Hebrew He raised the head of.
  16. 52:31b Hebrew on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. This day was March 31, 561 B.c.; also see note on 52:4a.
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Jeremiah 52
International Standard Version

The Fall of Jerusalem

52 Zedekiah was 21 years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for 11 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 2 Zedekiah[a] had done evil in the Lord’s sight, just as Jehoiakim had done. 3 Because Jerusalem and Judah had angered the Lord, he cast them out of his presence. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon, 4 and in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with all his army. He encamped near it and set up siege works all around it. 5 The city was under siege until the eleventh year of the reign of[b] King Zedekiah. 6 By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine became so severe that there was no food for the people of the land. 7 The wall of[c] the city was broken through, and all the soldiers fled, leaving the city at night through the gate between the two walls next to the king’s garden, even though the Chaldeans were all around the city. They went in the direction of the Arabah.[d]

8 The Chaldean army went after the king, overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his troops were scattered from him. 9 They captured the king and brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where the king of Babylon[e] passed judgment on him. 10 The king of Babylon killed Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes, and he also killed all the Judean officials[f] at Riblah. 11 He blinded Zedekiah and bound him in bronze shackles. Then the king of Babylon took him to Babylon and put him in prison until he died.

The Destruction of the Temple

12 In the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month—it was the nineteenth year of the reign of[g] King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard who served[h] the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem. 13 He burned the Lord’s Temple, the king’s house, and all the houses in Jerusalem. He also burned every public building[i] with fire. 14 All the Chaldean troops who were with the captain of the guard tore down all the walls around Jerusalem. 15 Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile some of the poorest of the people, the rest of the people left in the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen. 16 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poorest people of the land to be vinedressers and farmers.[j]

17 The Chaldeans broke in pieces the bronze pillars that were in the Lord’s Temple and the stands and the bronze sea that were in the Lord’s Temple, and they carried all the[k] bronze to Babylon. 18 They took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the basins, the pans, and all the bronze utensils that were used in the temple service. 19 The captain of the guard took away the bowls, the fire pans, the basins, the pots, the lamp stands, the pans, and the bowls for libations, both those made of gold and those made of silver. 20 There was too much bronze to weigh in the two pillars, the one sea, the twelve bronze oxen that were under the sea,[l] and the stands which King Solomon had made for the Lord’s Temple. 21 Each of the pillars was twelve cubits[m] high and its circumference twelve cubits.[n] It was hollow and about a handbreadth[o] thick. 22 On each pillar[p] was a capital of bronze, and the height of each capital was five cubits.[q] Latticework and pomegranates, all of bronze, were all around the capital. And the second pillar was like this, including the pomegranates. 23 There were 96 pomegranates open to view.[r] In all, there were 100 pomegranates all around the latticework.

Executions and Deportations to Babylon

24 The captain of the guard arrested Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the next ranking priest,[s] and the three guards of the gate.[t] 25 From the city he arrested one of the officers who had been in charge of the troops, seven men from the king’s personal advisors who were found in the city, the secretary of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land, and 60 men of the people of the land who were found inside the city. 26 Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard arrested them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 27 The king of Babylon struck them down and killed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah went into exile from the land.

28 These are the people Nebuchadnezzar took into exile: in the seventh year, 3,023 Judeans; 29 in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year, 832 people from Jerusalem; 30 in Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took 745 people from Judah into exile. All the people taken into exile[u] numbered 4,600.

Jehoiachin Released from Prison

31 In the first year of his reign, King Evil-merodach of Babylon, showed favor to King Jehoiachin of Judah by releasing him from prison on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah. 32 He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the other[v] kings who were in Babylon with him. 33 Jehoiachin[w] changed his prison clothes and regularly dined with the king[x] as long as he lived. 34 As for his living expenses, a regular allowance was given him daily by the king of Babylon as long as he lived,[y] until the day of his death.

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 52:2 Lit. He
  2. Jeremiah 52:5 The Heb. lacks the reign of
  3. Jeremiah 52:7 The Heb. lacks The wall of
  4. Jeremiah 52:7 I.e. the Jordan Valley
  5. Jeremiah 52:9 Lit. he
  6. Jeremiah 52:10 Or princes
  7. Jeremiah 52:12 The Heb. lacks the reign of
  8. Jeremiah 52:12 Lit. who stood before
  9. Jeremiah 52:13 Or He burned every large house
  10. Jeremiah 52:16 Lit. tillers
  11. Jeremiah 52:17 Lit. their bronze
  12. Jeremiah 52:20 The Heb. lacks the sea
  13. Jeremiah 52:21 I.e. about eighteen feet; a cubit was about eighteen inches
  14. Jeremiah 52:21 Lit. a line of twelve cubits would surround it;i.e. about eighteen feet; a cubit was about eighteen inches
  15. Jeremiah 52:21 Lit. four fingers
  16. Jeremiah 52:22 Lit. on it
  17. Jeremiah 52:22 I.e. about seven and a half feet; a cubit was about eighteen inches
  18. Jeremiah 52:23 Or evenly spread
  19. Jeremiah 52:24 Lit. the number two priest
  20. Jeremiah 52:24 Lit. of the threshold; i.e. high Temple officials
  21. Jeremiah 52:30 The Heb. lacks taken into exile
  22. Jeremiah 52:32 The Heb. lacks other
  23. Jeremiah 52:33 Lit. He
  24. Jeremiah 52:33 Lit. ate food before him
  25. Jeremiah 52:34 Lit. all the days of his life
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New Living Translation (NLT)

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