Jeremiah 52

52 ¹Zedekiah, twenty-one at his crowning, ruled Jerusalem eleven years. His mother was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. ²He did evil in our Father's eyes, just as Jehoiakim had done. ³This came to Jerusalem and Judah from our Father's anger, until he cast them from his presence. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

⁴In the ninth year of his reign, tenth month, tenth day, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army, camped against it, and built a siege wall around it. ⁵So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

⁶In month four, day nine, famine gripped the city; no food remained for the people of the land. ⁷Then the city was breached. All the soldiers fled, slipping out by night through the gate between the two walls near the king's garden, while the Babylonians surrounded the city, and they headed toward the Arabah. ^a a v7 The Arabah is the Jordan Valley depression running south from the Sea of Galilee toward the Dead Sea. ⁸But Babylonian troops chased the king and caught Zedekiah on Jericho's plains, and his whole army scattered from him. ⁹They captured the king and brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah in Hamath, who sentenced him. ¹⁰King of Babylon killed Zedekiah's sons before his eyes, and killed all Judah's officials at Riblah too. ¹¹He blinded Zedekiah, bound him with bronze chains, and Babylon's king brought him to Babylon, imprisoned until his death.

The Father's House Destroyed

¹²In the fifth month, the tenth day—Nebuchadnezzar's nineteenth year—Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, King Nebuchadnezzar's servant, came to Jerusalem. ¹³He burned our Father's house, the king's house, and all Jerusalem's houses—every great house he burned with fire. ¹⁴All the Babylonian army with the guard commander tore down all the walls surrounding Jerusalem. ¹⁵Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, deported some of the poorest people, those remaining in the city, the deserters who defected to Babylon's king, and the rest of the craftsmen. ¹⁶But Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, left some of the land's poorest to work vineyards and fields.

¹⁷The bronze pillars of our Father's house, and the stands and bronze sea in our Father's house—the Babylonians smashed them and carried all the bronze to Babylon. ^b b v17 The bronze sea was a massive circular basin used by the priests for ritual washing. ¹⁸They took the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, basins, dishes, and all bronze vessels used for temple service. ¹⁹The captain of the guard also took the small bowls, fire pans, basins, pots, lampstands, incense dishes, and drink-offering bowls—whatever was gold as gold, whatever was silver as silver.

²⁰The two pillars, the bronze sea, twelve bronze bulls under the stands, which King Solomon made for our Father's house—the bronze of it all could not be weighed. ²¹Each pillar stood about twenty-seven feet tall, eighteen feet around, with walls three inches thick, and hollow. ²²Its bronze capital was about seven and a half feet high, with a network and pomegranates all around, all bronze. The second pillar matched, with pomegranates. ²³Ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; the pomegranates totaled one hundred on the network all around.

²⁴The guard commander took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers, ²⁵from the city he took the officer over the soldiers, seven of the king's advisers found in the city, the army commander's secretary who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the land found in the city. ²⁶Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, took them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ²⁷Babylon's king struck them down and killed them at Riblah in Hamath. Judah went into exile from its land.

²⁸This is the number of the people Nebuchadnezzar exiled: in the seventh year, 3,023 Judeans;

²⁹in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, 832 persons from Jerusalem;

³⁰in Nebuchadnezzar's twenty-third year, Nebuzaradan the guard commander exiled 745 Judeans; the total was 4,600 people.

Jehoiachin Lifted From Prison

³¹In the thirty-seventh year of Jehoiachin king of Judah's exile, on the twelfth month's twenty-fifth day, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in his first year, favored Jehoiachin king of Judah and freed him from prison. ³²He spoke kindly to him, setting his throne above other kings' thrones with him in Babylon. ³³So Jehoiachin took off his prison clothes and ate at the king's table every day, all his life. ³⁴The king of Babylon gave him a daily allowance all his life, until the day he died.