Jeremiah 52

1 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].

Zedekiah was twenty-one when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother's name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah She came from Libnah.

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

He did evil in the Lord's sight, just as Jehoiakim had done.

3 [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.

All this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, because of the Lord's anger, until he eventually banished them from his presence. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

4 [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].

In the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, attacked Jerusalem with his entire army. He set up camp around the city and built siege ramps against the walls.

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

The city remained under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

6 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].

By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so bad that the people had nothing left to eat.

7 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.

Then the city wall was broken through, and all the soldiers ran away, escaping at night through the gate between the two walls by the king's garden, even though the Babylonians had the city surrounded. They went in the direction of the Arabah,

8 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.

but the Babylonian army chased after the king and caught up with him on the plains of Jericho. His whole army had scattered and left him.

9 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.

They captured the king and took him to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where he sentenced him.

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

The king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah's sons while he watched, and also killed the officials of Judah there at Riblah.

11 [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.

Then he gouged out Zedekiah's eyes, and bound him in bronze shackles. The king of Babylon took him to Babylon and imprisoned him there until the day he died.

12 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.

On the tenth day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, an officer of the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem.

13 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].

He burned down the Lord's Temple, the royal palace, and all the large buildings of Jerusalem.

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

The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the guard knocked down all the walls around Jerusalem.

15 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.

Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, deported some of the poor people and those who were left in the city, even those who had gone over to the side of the king of Babylon, as well as the rest of the craftsmen.

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

But Nebuzaradan allowed others of the poor people who were left in the country to stay and take care of the vineyards and the fields.

17 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.

The Babylonians broke into pieces the bronze pillars, the movable carts, and the bronze Sea that belonged to the Lord's Temple, and they took all the bronze to Babylon.

18 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.

They also took all the pots, shovels, lamp snuffers, sprinkling bowls, and all the other bronze items used in the Temple service.

19 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.

The commander of the guard removed the basins, censers, sprinkling bowls, pots, lampstands, dishes and bowls, anything that was made of pure gold or silver.

20 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.

The amount of bronze that came from the two columns, the Sea, the twelve bronze bulls under it, and the movable carts, which Solomon had made for the Lord's Temple, all of this weighed more than could be measured.

21 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.

Each column was eighteen cubits tall and twelve cubits around. They were hollow with walls four fingers thick.

22 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.

The bronze capital on top of one column was five cubits high, with a network of bronze pomegranates around it. The second column was the same, and also had a decorative network.

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

There were ninety-six bronze pomegranates around each column. Above the network were a total of one hundred pomegranates.

24 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].

The commander of the guard took as prisoners Seraiah, the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest, second in rank, and the three Temple doorkeepers.

25 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.

From those left in the city he took the officer in charge of the soldiers, and seven of the king's advisors. He also took the secretary to the army commander who was in charge of calling up the people for military service, and sixty other men who were present in the city.

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

Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, took them and brought them before the king of Babylon at Riblah.

27 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.

The king of Babylon had them executed at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So the people of Judah had to leave their land.

28 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.

This is a record of the number of people Nebuchadnezzar took into exile. In the seventh year of his reign he took 3,023 Judeans.

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

In his eighteenth year Nebuchadnezzar took another 832 from Jerusalem.

30 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].

In his twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, took another 745 Judeans, making a total of 4,600.

31 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.

In the year Evil-merodach became king of Babylon, he released Jehoiachin, king of Judah, from prison. This happened on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin, king of Judah.

32 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].

The king of Babylon treated him well him and gave him a position of honor higher than the other kings there with him in Babylon.

33 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.

So Jehoiachin was able to remove his prison clothes, and he ate frequently at the king's table for the rest of his life.

34 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.

The king provided Jehoiachin with a daily allowance for the rest of his life until he died.