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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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耶利米书 52
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Simplified)

犹大的灭亡

52 西底迦二十一岁登基，在耶路撒冷执政十一年。他母亲叫哈慕她，是立拿人耶利米的女儿。 2 西底迦像约雅敬一样做耶和华视为恶的事。 3 因此，耶和华向耶路撒冷和犹大的人发怒，把他们从祂面前赶走。

后来，西底迦背叛了巴比伦王。 4 在他执政第九年十月十日，巴比伦王尼布甲尼撒率领全军攻打耶路撒冷，在城外扎营，修筑围城的高台。 5 城一直被围困到西底迦执政第十一年。 6 那年四月九日，城里饥荒非常严重，百姓无粮可吃。 7 城被攻破，西底迦和士兵便在夜间穿过御花园，从两城墙中间的门逃往亚拉巴。当时迦勒底人仍四面包围着城。 8 迦勒底的军队追赶西底迦，在耶利哥平原追上了他。他的军队都四散而逃。 9 迦勒底人擒住西底迦，把他押到哈马的利比拉去见巴比伦王。巴比伦王在那里审判他， 10 当着他的面杀了他的众子和犹大所有的首领， 11 又剜去他的双眼，用铜链锁着他押往巴比伦，将他终生囚在牢里。

12 巴比伦王尼布甲尼撒执政第十九年五月十日，他的臣仆——护卫长尼布撒拉旦进入耶路撒冷， 13 放火焚烧耶和华的殿、王宫及城内所有的房屋。他烧毁了所有重要建筑。 14 他率领的迦勒底的军队拆毁了耶路撒冷四围的城墙。 15 护卫长尼布撒拉旦掳去最贫穷的人、城中的余民、投降的人和剩下的技工， 16 只留下一些最贫穷的人，让他们照料葡萄园、耕种田地。

17 迦勒底人打碎耶和华殿中的铜柱、铜底座和铜海，把铜运往巴比伦， 18 并带走了盆、铲、蜡剪、碗、碟及一切献祭用的铜器。 19 护卫长还带走了杯、火鼎、碗、盆、灯台、碟和奠酒的杯等所有金银器皿。 20 所罗门王为耶和华的殿所造的两根铜柱、一个铜海、铜海下面的十二头铜牛，以及一些铜底座，用的铜多得无法计算。 21 两根铜柱中空，高八米，周长五点三米，铜壁厚四指。 22 铜柱有柱冠，柱冠高二点三米，周围装饰着铜网和铜石榴。两根柱子都一样。 23 每根铜柱周围装饰着九十六个石榴，网子四周共有一百个石榴。

24 护卫长掳走祭司长西莱雅、副祭司长西番亚、三名殿门守卫， 25 又从城中掳走一名将领、王的七个亲信、一名负责招兵的书记和六十名平民， 26 把他们带到利比拉去见巴比伦王。 27 巴比伦王在那里处死了他们。犹大人就这样被掳去，离开了家园。

28 以下是尼布甲尼撒掳去的人数：他执政第七年掳去三千零二十三名犹大人； 29 执政第十八年，从耶路撒冷掳去八百三十二人； 30 执政第二十三年，他的护卫长尼布撒拉旦掳去七百四十五名犹大人。总共四千六百人。

31 犹大王约雅斤被掳后第三十七年，即巴比伦王以未·米罗达元年十二月二十五日，巴比伦王恩待约雅斤，释放了他， 32 并好言相待，使他的地位高过被掳到巴比伦的其他各王。 33 约雅斤脱去了囚服，终生与巴比伦王一起吃饭。 34 在他有生之年，巴比伦王供应他每天的需用，直到他去世。

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