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].

It was the twenty-first year of Sedekias, when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Amitaal, the daughter of Jeremias, of Lobena.

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

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].

And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the ninth month, on the tenth day of the month, [that] Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon came, and all his host, against Jerusalem, and they made a rampart round it, and built a wall round about it with large stones.

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

So the city was besieged, until the eleventh year of king Sedekias,

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].

on the ninth day of the month, and [then] the famine was severe in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.

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.

And the city was broken up, and all the men of war went out by night by the way of the gate, between the wall and the outworks, which were by the king's garden; and the Chaldeans were by the city round about; and they went by the way [leading] to the wilderness.

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 host of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook him in the [country] beyond Jericho; and all his servants were dispersed from [about] 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.

And they took the king, and brought him to the king of Babylon to Deblatha, and he judged him.

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

And the king of Babylon killed the sons of Sedekias before his eyes; and he killed all the princes of Juda in Deblatha.

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.

And he put out the eyes of Sedekias, and bound him in fetters; and the king of Babylon brought him to Babylon, and put him into the grinding-house, until the day when 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.

And in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nabuzardan the captain of the guard, who waited on the king of Babylon, came to 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].

and he burnt the house of the Lord, and the king's house; and all the houses of the city, and every great house he burnt with fire.

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

And the host of the Chaldeans that was with the captain of the guard pulled down all the wall of Jerusalem round about.

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.

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

But the captain of the guard left the remnant of the people to be vinedressers and husbandmen.

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.

And the Chaldeans broke in pieces the brazen pillars that were in the house of the Lord, and the bases, and the brazen sea that was in the house of the Lord, and they took the brass thereof, and carried it away 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.

Also the rim, and the bowls, and the flesh hooks, and all the brazen vessels, wherewith they ministered;

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.

and the basins, and the snuffers, and the oil-funnels, and the candlesticks, and the censers, and the cups, the golden, of gold, and the silver, of silver, the captain of the guard took away.

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.

And the two pillars, and the one sea, and the twelve brazen oxen under the sea, which [things] king Solomon made for the house of the Lord; the brass of which [articles] was without weight.

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.

And as for the pillars, the height of one pillar was thirty-five cubits; and a line of twelve cubits compassed it round; and the thickness of it [all] round was four fingers.

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.

And [there was] a brazen chapiter upon them, and the length was five cubits, [even] the height of one chapiter; and [there were] on the chapiter round about network and pomegranates, all of brass: and correspondingly the second pillar [had] eight pomegranates to a cubit for the twelve cubits.

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.

And the pomegranates were ninety-six on a side; and all the pomegranates on the network round about were a hundred.

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].

And the captain of the guard took the chief priest, and the second priest, and those that kept the way;

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.

and one eunuch, who was over the men of war, and seven men of renown, who were in the king's presence that were found in the city; and the scribe of the forces, who did the part of a scribe to the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the midst of the city.

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

And Nabuzardan the captain of the king's guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Deblatha.

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.

And the king of Babylon struck them in Deblatha, in the land of Aemath.

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.

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

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].

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.

And it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year after that Joakim king of Juda had been carried away captive, in the twelfth month, on the four and twentieth [day] of the month, [that] Ulaemadachar king of Babylon, in the year in which he began to reign, raised the head of Joakim king of Juda, and shaved him, and brought him out of the house where he was kept,

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].

and spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the kings that were 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.

and changed his prison garments: and he ate bread continually before him all the days that he lived.

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.

And his appointed portion was given him continually by the king of Babylon from day to day, until the day when he died.