A O 1-3. Zedekiah and Nebuchadnezzar.
P 4-27. Captivity. The great one.
P 28-30. Captivities. The 3 lesser.
O 31-34. Jehoiakim and Evil-Merodach.
488-477 B.C.
Jeremiah 52)
1 Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem (cp. 2 Kings 24:18-20). And his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
2 And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.
3 For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had cast them out from His presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
P Q a 4,5. Jerusalem besieged.
b 6. Consequence. Famine.
a 7-. Jerusalem taken.
b 7-. Consequence. Flight.
R 8-11. Executions at Riblah.
Q c 12-14. The Temple burned.
d 15. The poor taken.
d 16. The poor left.
c 17-23. The Temple spoiled.
R 24-27. Executions at Riblah.
479 B.C.
4 And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign (cp. 2 Kings 25:1-21), in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts against it round about.
477 B.C.
5 So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.
6 And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. (Described in the Lamentations of Jeremiah. See Gen. 12:10)
7 Then the city was broken up,
and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden (cp. 2 Kings 25;4); (now the Chaldeans were by the city round about:) and they went by the way of the plain.
8 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.
9 Then they took the king, and carried him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah (on the east bank of the Orontes, 35 miles north-east of Baalbek) in the land of Hamath; where he gave judgment upon him.
10 And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah.
11 Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah (see 32:4. Cp. 2 Kings 25:6,7. Ezek. 12:13. Hence Zedekiah never saw Babylon, though he was taken there); and the king of Babylon bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.
12 Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, which served the king of Babylon, in Jerusalem,
13 And burned the house of the LORD, and the king's house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men, burned he with fire:
14 And all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls of Jerusalem round about.
15 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive certain of the poor of the people (this is supplemental to 2 Kings 25:12), and the residue of the people that remained in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.
16 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left certain of the poor of the land for vine-dressers and for husbandmen.
17 Also the pillars of brass (cp. 27:19) that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brazen sea that was in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans brake, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon.
18 The cauldrons also, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls for sprinkling, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered (cp. Ex. 27:2,&c), took they away.
19 And the basins, and the censers, and the bowls, and the cauldrons, and the lamps, and the spoons, and the cups; that which was of gold in gold, and that which was of silver in silver, took the captain of the guard away.
20 The two pillars, one sea, and twelve brazen bulls that were beneath the bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the LORD: the brass of all these vessels was without weight.
21 And concerning the pillars (cp. 1 Kings 7:15. 2 Kings 25:17), the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a fillet of twelve cubits did compass it; and the thickness thereof was four fingers: it was hollow.
22 And a capital of brass was upon it; and the height of one capital was five cubits, with network and pomegranates upon the capitals round about, all of brass. The second pillar also and the pomegranates were like unto these.
23 And there were ninety six pomegranates towards the air (the there were 100 "round about", the other 4 being behind, out of sight; cp. 2 Chron. 3:16; 4:13; with 1 Kings 7;20); and all the pomegranates upon the network were an hundred round about.
24 And the captain of the guard took Seraiah (see 2 Kings 25:18. 1 Chron. 6:14. Cp. 51:59) the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the thresholh:
25 He took also out of the city an eunuch, which had the charge of the men of war; and seven men of them that were near the king's person (in 2 Kings 25:19 'five"; but the greater includes the lesser), which were found in the city; and the principal scribe of the host, who mustered the people of the land; and threescore men of the people of the land, that were found in the midst of the city.
26 So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah.
27 And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death in Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive out of his own soil.
490 B.C.
28 This is the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year three thousand of Judah and three and twenty: (This was the begining of Nebuchadnezzar's 2nd siege, the year before Jehoiachin's captivity.)
478 B.C.
29 In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar (was the 2nd year of his 3rd and last siege) he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty two souls:
473 B.C.
30 In the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadnezzar (4 years after the fall of Jerusalem. Another contact of Bible and secular chronology) Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of Judah seven hundred forty five souls: all the souls were four thousand and six hundred.
452 B.C.
31 And it came to pass in the thirty seventh year (cp. 2 Kings 25:27-30) of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and twentieth day of the month (the order given then, but probably not carried out until the "27th", according to 2 Kings 25:27), that Evil-merodach (the son of Nebuchadnezzar) king of Babylon in the first year of his reign lifted up the head (idiom for releasing. Cp. Gen. 40:13,20) of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison.
32 And spoke good things with him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon,
33 And changed his prison garments: and he did continually eat bread (put for all kinds of food) before him all the days of his life.
34 And for his diet, there was a continual diet given him of the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life. (Supplemental to 2 Kings 25.)