Shared Word Translation
Jeremiah 52
Zedekiah Rebels against Babylon
Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
He did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.
For because of the anger of the LORD this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, until he cast them away from his presence.
And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
Jerusalem Is Besieged
In the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem. They camped against it and built siegeworks against it all around. So the city came under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. In the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine was severe in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.
Zedekiah Is Captured
Then the city was broken through, and all the men of war fled and went out from the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were around the city. They went toward the Arabah. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him. They seized the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he pronounced judgment upon him. The king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. He also slaughtered all the officials of Judah at Riblah. Then he blinded the eyes of Zedekiah, and the king of Babylon bound him with bronze chains, brought him to Babylon, and put him in prison until the day of his death.
The Temple and Jerusalem Are Burned
In the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month—which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, who stood before the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He burned the house of the LORD, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every great house he burned with fire. All the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard tore down all the walls around Jerusalem. Nebuzaradan captain of the guard carried into exile some of the poor of the people, the rest of the people who remained in the city, those who had fallen away to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude. But Nebuzaradan captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land as vineyard workers and farmers.
The Temple Furnishings Are Taken
The Chaldeans broke in pieces the bronze pillars that were in the house of the LORD, the stands, and the bronze sea that was in the house of the LORD, and carried all their bronze to Babylon. They took the pots, shovels, snuffers, basins, spoons, and all the bronze vessels used in temple service. The captain of the guard took the bowls, firepans, basins, pots, lampstands, spoons, and bowls—what was gold as gold and what was silver as silver. As for the two pillars, the one sea, the twelve bronze bulls that were under the stands, which King Solomon had made for the house of the LORD—the bronze of all these vessels could not be weighed. As for the pillars, one pillar was eighteen cubits high, and a line of twelve cubits went around it. Its thickness was four fingers, and it was hollow. A bronze capital was upon it, and the height of one capital was five cubits. There was network and pomegranates on the capital all around, all of bronze. The second pillar was the same, with pomegranates. There were ninety-six pomegranates exposed to the wind; all the pomegranates on the network all around were one hundred.
The Leaders Are Executed at Riblah
The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold.
From the city he took one court official who was appointed over the men of war, seven men from those who saw the king’s face who were found in the city, the scribe of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men from the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city.
Nebuzaradan captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
The king of Babylon struck them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath.
So Judah went into exile from its land.
The Deportations
These are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried into exile:
in the seventh year,
three thousand twenty-three Judeans;
in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar,
eight hundred thirty-two persons
from Jerusalem;
in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar,
Nebuzaradan captain of the guard
carried into exile seven hundred forty-five Judeans.
All the persons were four thousand six hundred.
Jehoiachin Is Released from Prison
In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out from prison. He spoke good things with him and set his throne above the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon. So Jehoiachin changed his prison garments and ate bread continually before the king all the days of his life. And for his allowance, a continual allowance was given to him by the king of Babylon, a daily portion, until the day of his death, all the days of his life.