Jeremiah 52

1 Sedecias was one and twenty years old when he began to reign: and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and the name of his mother was Amital, the daughter of Jeremias of Lobna.

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became the King [of Judah]. He ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother was Hamutal, the daughter of [a man named] Jeremiah from Libnah [town].

2 And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that Joakim had done.

Zedekiah did [many] things that Yahweh says are evil, like [his father] Jehoiakim had done.

3 For the wrath of the Lord was against Jerusalem, and against Juda, till he cast them out from his presence: and Sedecias revolted from the king of Babylon.

[The events that are summarized here happened] because Yahweh was angry with [the people of] Jerusalem and [of other places in] Judah, and finally he (exiled them/forced them to go to other countries) [and said that he did not want to have anything to do with] them any more. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

4 And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, the tenth day of the month, that Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and they besieged it, and built forts against it round about.

[So, ] on January 15, when Zedekiah had been ruling for almost nine years, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon led his entire army to attack Jerusalem. They surrounded the city and built dirt ramps up to the top of the city walls [to enable them to attack the city].

5 And the city was besieged until the eleventh year of king Sedecias.

They continued to surround Jerusalem until Zedekiah had been ruling for almost eleven years.

6 And in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, a famine overpowered the city: and there was no food for the people of the land.

When Zedekiah had been ruling for almost eleven years, by July 18 of that year, the (famine/lack of food) in the city had become very severe, and there was no [more] food for the people [to eat].

7 And the city was broken up, and the men of war fled, and went out of the city in the night by the way of the gate that is between the two walls, and leadeth to the king’s garden, (the Chaldeans besieging the city round about, ) sad they went by the way that leadeth to the wilderness.

Then [the soldiers of Babylonia] broke through [a section of] the city wall, and all the [Israeli] soldiers fled. But because the city was surrounded by soldiers from Babylonia, [Zedekiah and the Israeli] soldiers [waited until] it became dark. Then they left the city through the gate between the two walls behind the king’s garden. Then they ran towards the Jordan River Valley.

8 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king: and they overtook Sedecias in the desert which is near Jericho: and all his companions were scattered from him.

But the soldiers of Babylonia pursued King Zedekiah, and they caught up with him on the plains near Jericho. [He was alone because] all his men had deserted him and had scattered.

9 And when they had taken the king, they carried him to the king of Babylon to Reblatha, which is in the land of Emath: and he gave judgment upon him.

The soldiers of Babylonia took him to the king of Babylon, who was at Riblah in the Hamath [region]. There the king of Babylon told [his soldiers what] they should do to punish Zedekiah.

10 And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Sedecias before his eyes: and he slew all the princes of Juda in Reblatha.

They forced Zedekiah to watch while they killed his sons and all the officials from Judah.

11 And he put out the eyes of Sedecias, and bound him with fetters, and the king of Babylon brought him into Babylon, and he put him in prison till the day of his death.

[Then] they gouged out Zedekiah’s eyes. They fastened him with bronze chains and took him to Babylon. They put him in a prison, and he remained there until the day that he died.

12 And in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, the same is the nineteenth year of Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, came Nabuzardan the general of the army, who stood before the king of Babylon in Jerusalem.

On August 17 of that year, which was when King Nebuchadnezzar had been ruling for almost 19 years, Nebuzaradan, who was the captain of the king’s bodyguards and one of the king’s officials, arrived in Jerusalem.

13 And he burnt the house of the Lord, and the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great house he burnt with fire.

He [commanded his soldiers to] burn down the temple of Yahweh, the king’s palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem. They [also] destroyed all the important buildings [in the city].

14 And all the army of the Chaldeans that were with the general broke down all the wall of Jerusalem round about.

Then he supervised the soldiers from Babylonia while they tore down the walls on all sides of Jerusalem.

15 But Nabuzardan the general carried away captives some of the poor people, and of the rest of the common sort who remained in the city, and of the fugitives that were fled over to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.

Then Nebuzaradan (forced to go/exiled) [to Babylon] some of the poorest people, those Israelis who had said they would support the king of Babylon, the rest of the craftsmen, and other people who had remained in Jerusalem.

16 But of the poor of the land, Nabuzardan the general left some for vinedressers, and for husbandmen.

But Nebuzaradan allowed some of the very poor people to remain [in Judah] to take care of the vineyards and fields.

17 The Chaldeans also broke in pieces the brazen pillars that were in the house of the Lord, and the bases, and the sea of brass that was in the house of the Lord: and they carried all the brass of them to Babylon.

The soldiers from Babylonia broke [into pieces] the [huge] bronze pillars that were in front of the temple, and the [large] bronze water tank, and the [ten bronze water] carts, and they took all the bronze to Babylon.

18 And they took the caldrons, and the fleshhooks, and the psalteries, and the bowls, and the little mortars, and all the brazen vessels that had been used in the ministry: and

They also took away the basins [for holding the ashes from the burned sacrifices], the shovels [for cleaning out the ashes], the tools for snuffing out the wicks of the lamps, the basins [for holding the blood of the sacrificed animals], the dishes [for incense], and all the [other] bronze items that were used when sacrifices were made at the temple.

19 The general took away the pitchers, and the censers, and the pots, and the basins, and the candlesticks, and the mortars, and the cups: as many as were of gold, in gold: and as many as were of silver, in silver:

Nebuzaradan also [told his soldiers to] take away the small bowls, the dishes for burning incense, the basins, pots, lampstands, bowls [for incense], and the bowls used for pouring out the wine offerings. They took all the other items that were made of pure gold or silver.

20 And the two pillars, and one sea, and twelve oxen of brass that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the Lord: there was no weight of the brass of all these vessels.

The bronze from the two pillars, the [large water] tank and the twelve statues of oxen that were beneath it, and the water carts, was more/heavier than they could weigh. Those things had been made for the temple during the time that Solomon was the king.

21 And concerning the pillars, one pillar was eighteen cubits high: and a cord of twelve cubits compassed it about: but the thickness thereof was four fingers, and it was hollow within.

Each of the pillars was (27 feet/8 meters) tall and (18 feet/5.5 meters) around. They were hollow, and each had sides/walls that were (3 in./8 cm.) thick.

22 And chapiters of brass were upon both: and the height of one chapiter was five cubits: and network, and pomegranates were upon the chapiters round about, all of brass. The same of the second pillar, and the pomegranates.

The bronze head on the top of each pillar was (7-1/2 feet/over 2 meters) high and was decorated all around with a bronze [network of figures that represented] pomegranates.

23 And there were ninety-six pomegranates hanging down: and the pomegranates being a hundred in all, were compassed with network.

There was a total of 100 figures of pomegranates on the network at the top, 96 of which could be seen from the ground.

24 And the general took Saraias the chief priest, and Sophonias the second priest, and the three keepers of the entry.

When Nebuzaradan [returned to Babylon], he took [with him as prisoners] Seraiah the Supreme Priest, Zephaniah who was Seraiah’s deputy, and the three men who guarded the entrances [to the temple].

25 He also took out of the city one eunuch that was chief over the men of war: and seven men of them that were near the king’s person, that were found in the city: and a scribe, an officer of the army who exercised the young soldiers: and threescore men of the people of the land, that were found in the midst of the city.

He found [some other] people who were [hiding] in the city. [So] from them he took a commander of the army [of Judah], seven of the king’s advisors, the army commander’s chief secretary who was in charge of recruiting [soldiers for the army], and 60 [other] soldiers.

26 And Nabuzardan the general took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon, to Reblatha.

Nebuzaradan took them all to the king of Babylon, [who was still] at Riblah.

27 And the king of Babylon struck them, and put them to death in Reblatha, in the land of Emath: and Juda was carried away captive out of his land.

There at Riblah in the Hamath region, the king of Babylon commanded that they [all] be executed. [Many of the people of] Judah were (forced to leave/exiled from) their own land.

28 This is the people whom Nabuchodonosor carried away captive: in the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Jews.

The number of people who were captured and sent to Babylon at that time, when Nebuchadnezzar had been ruling for almost seven years, was 3,023.

29 In the eighteenth year of Nabuchodonosor, eight hundred and thirty-two souls from Jerusalem.

Then, when he had been ruling for almost 18 years, his [soldiers] took 832 [more Israeli people to Babylonia].

30 In the three and twentieth year of Nabuchodonosor, Nabuzardan the general carried away of the Jews seven hundred and forty-five souls. So all the souls were four thousand six hundred.

When he had been ruling almost 23 years, he sent Nebuzaradan [to Jerusalem again], and he brought back 745 [more Israelis to Babylonia]. That was a total of 4,600 Israelis [who were taken to Babylonia].

31 And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Joachin king of Juda, in the twelfth month, the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Joachin king of Juda, and brought him forth out of prison.

After King Jehoiachin of Judah had been in prison [in Babylon] for almost thirty-seven years, Evil-Merodach became the king of Babylon. He was kind to Jehoiachin and ordered that he be released from prison. That was on March 31 of the year that Evil-Merodach became king.

32 And he spoke kindly to him, and he set his throne above the thrones of the kings that were with him in Babylon.

He [always] spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and gave him a position in which he was honored more than [all] the other kings [who had been exiled/taken to Babylon].

33 And he changed his prison garments, and he ate bread before him always all the days of his life.

He [supplied new clothes] for Jehoiachin, to replace the clothes that he had been wearing in prison. [He also allowed] Jehoiachin to eat with him every day, all during the rest of his life.

34 And for his diet a continual provision was allowed him by the king of Babylon, every day a portion, until the day of his death, all the days of his life.

Every day, the King [of Babylon] gave him some money [to buy the things that he needed. That continued] until the day that Jehoiachin died.