The Fall of Jerusalem
Jeremiah 52Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king. He reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. He did evil in the eyes of YHWH, just as Jehoiakim had done. It was because of YHWH’s anger that all this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, when he threw them out from ʜɪꜱ presence.
Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. In the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem. They encamped against it and built siege works all around it. So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
In the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was so severe in the city, that there was no bread for the people of the land. Then a breach was made in the city, and all the soldiers fled. They left of the city at night through the gate between the two walls, near the king’s garden. Now the Chaldeans were against the city all around. They went toward the Arabah, but the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. All his army were separated from him. Then they took the king, and carried him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath where he pronounced judgment on him. The king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. He also killed all the officials of Judah in Riblah. Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and the king of Babylon had him bound him in shackles and carried him to Babylon, where he put him in prison until the day of his death.
Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, who stood before the king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem. He burned the house of YHWH, and the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every great house, he burned with fire. The whole army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls surrounding Jerusalem. Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the poorest of the people, and the rest of the people who were left in the city, and those who fell away, who defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude. But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poorest of the land to be vineyard keepers and farmers.
The Chaldeans broke the bronze pillars that were in the house of YHWH and the bases and the bronze sea that were in the house of YHWH, and they carried all the bronze to Babylon. They also took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the basins, the spoons, and all the vessels of bronze with which they ministered. The captain of the guard took away the cups, the fire pans, the basins, the pots, the lamp stands, the spoons, and the bowls; that which was of gold, as gold, and that which was of silver, as silver.
They took the two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve bronze bulls that were under the bases, which King Solomon had made for the house of YHWH. The bronze of all these vessels was without weight. As for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits;+52:21 A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters. and a line of twelve cubits encircled it; and its thickness was four fingers. It was hollow. A capital of bronze was on it; and the height of the one capital was five cubits,+52:22 A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters. with network and pomegranates on the capital all around, all of bronze. The second pillar also had the same, with pomegranates. There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides, all the pomegranates were one hundred on the network all around.
The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold, and out of the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war, and seven men who saw the king’s face who were found in the city, and the scribe of the captain of the army, who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the middle of the city. Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah. The king of Babylon struck them, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath.
So Judah was carried away captive out of his land. This is the number of the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive:
in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews;
in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, he carried away captive from Jerusalem 832 people;
in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews 745 people.
All the people numbered 4,600.
Jehoiachin Released From Prison
In the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the twenty-fifth day of the month, Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and released him from prison. He spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon, and changed his prison garments. Jehoiachin ate bread before him continually all the days of his life. For his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him by the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.