Jeremiah 52

52Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah.H6667H259H6242H8141H1121H4427H4427H259H6240H8141H3389H517H8034H2537H1323H3414H38412But Zedekiah did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, just as Jehoiakim had done.H6213H7451H5869H3068H3079H62133These things happened because of the Lord’s anger against the people of Jerusalem and Judah, until he finally banished them from his presence and sent them into exile. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.H5921H639H3068H3389H3063H7993H6440H6667H4775H4428H8944So on January 15

, during the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon led his entire army against Jerusalem. They surrounded the city and built siege ramps against its walls.H8671H8141H4427H6224H2320H6218H2320H5019H4428H894H935H2428H3389H2583H1129H1785H54395Jerusalem was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah’s reign.H935H5892H4692H6249H6240H8141H4428H66676By July 18 in the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s reign

, the famine in the city had become very severe, and the last of the food was entirely gone.H7243H2320H8672H2320H7458H2388H5892H3899H5971H7767Then a section of the city wall was broken down, and all the soldiers fled. Since the city was surrounded by the Babylonians

, they waited for nightfall. Then they slipped through the gate between the two walls behind the king’s garden and headed toward the Jordan Valley.H5892H1234H582H4421H1272H3318H5892H3915H1870H8179H2346H4428H1588H3778H5892H5439H3212H1870H61608But the Babylonian troops chased King Zedekiah and caught him on the plains of Jericho, for his men had all deserted him and scattered.H2428H3778H7291H310H4428H5381H6667H6160H3405H2428H63279They took him to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath. There the king of Babylon pronounced judgment upon Zedekiah.H8610H4428H5927H4428H894H7247H776H2574H1696H494110He made Zedekiah watch as they slaughtered his sons and all the other officials of Judah.H4428H894H7819H1121H6667H5869H7819H8269H3063H724711Then they gouged out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him in bronze chains, and led him away to Babylon. Zedekiah remained there in prison until the day of his death.H5786H5869H6667H4428H894H631H5178H935H894H5414H1004H6486H3117H419412On August 17 of that year

, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard and an official of the Babylonian king, arrived in Jerusalem.H2549H2320H6218H2320H8672H6240H8141H8141H5019H4428H894H935H5018H7227H2876H5975H6440H4428H894H338913He burned down the Temple of the Lord, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He destroyed all the important buildings

in the city.H8313H1004H3068H4428H1004H1004H3389H1004H1419H8313H78414Then he supervised the entire Babylonian

army as they tore down the walls of Jerusalem on every side.H2428H3778H7227H2876H5422H2346H3389H543915Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, then took as exiles some of the poorest of the people, the rest of the people who remained in the city, the defectors who had declared their allegiance to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen.H5018H7227H2876H1540H1803H5971H3499H5971H7604H5892H5307H5307H4428H894H3499H52716But Nebuzaradan allowed some of the poorest people to stay behind in Judah to care for the vineyards and fields.H5018H7227H2876H7604H1803H776H3755H300917The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars in front of the Lord’s Temple, the bronze water carts, and the great bronze basin called the Sea, and they carried all the bronze away to Babylon.H5982H5178H1004H3068H4350H5178H3220H1004H3068H3778H7665H5375H5178H89418They also took all the ash buckets, shovels, lamp snuffers, basins, dishes, and all the other bronze articles used for making sacrifices at the Temple.H5518H3257H4212H4219H3709H3627H5178H8334H394719Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, also took the small bowls, incense burners, basins, pots, lampstands, dishes, bowls used for liquid offerings, and all the other articles made of pure gold or silver.H5592H4289H4219H5518H4501H3709H4518H2091H2091H3701H3701H3947H7227H2876H394720The weight of the bronze from the two pillars, the Sea with the twelve bronze oxen beneath it, and the water carts was too great to be measured. These things had been made for the Lord’s Temple in the days of King Solomon.H8147H5982H259H3220H8147H6240H5178H1241H4350H4428H8010H6213H1004H3068H5178H3627H494821Each of the pillars was 27 feet tall and 18 feet in circumference

. They were hollow, with walls 3 inches thick.H5982H6967H259H5982H8083H6240H520H2339H8147H6240H520H5437H5672H702H676H501422The bronze capital on top of each pillar was 7 1/2 feet

high and was decorated with a network of bronze pomegranates all the way around.H3805H5178H6967H259H3805H2568H520H7639H7416H3805H5439H5178H8145H5982H741623There were 96 pomegranates on the sides, and a total of 100 on the network around the top.H8673H8337H7416H7307H7416H7639H3967H543924Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took with him as prisoners Seraiah the high priest, Zephaniah the priest of the second rank, and the three chief gatekeepers.H7227H2876H3947H8304H7218H3548H6846H4932H3548H7969H8104H559225And from among the people still hiding in the city, he took an officer who had been in charge of the Judean army; seven of the king’s personal advisers; the army commander’s chief secretary, who was in charge of recruitment; and sixty other citizens.H3947H5892H259H5631H6496H582H4421H7651H582H7200H4428H6440H4672H5892H8269H5608H6635H6633H5971H776H8346H376H5971H776H4672H8432H589226Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took them all to the king of Babylon at Riblah.H5018H7227H2876H3947H3212H4428H894H724727And there at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon had them all put to death. So the people of Judah were sent into exile from their land.H4428H894H5221H4191H7247H127H2574H3063H1540H77628The number of captives taken to Babylon in the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign

was 3,023.H5971H5019H1540H7651H8141H7969H505H3064H7969H624229Then in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year

he took 832 more.H8083H6240H8141H5019H1540H3389H8083H3967H7970H8147H531530In Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year

he sent Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, who took 745 more—a total of 4,600 captives in all.H7969H6242H8141H5019H5018H7227H2876H1540H3064H7651H3967H705H2568H5315H5315H702H505H8337H396731In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, Evil-merodach ascended to the Babylonian throne. He was kind to

Jehoiachin and released him from prison on March 31 of that year.H7651H7970H8141H1546H3078H4428H3063H8147H6240H2320H2568H6242H2320H192H4428H894H8141H4438H5375H7218H3078H4428H3063H3318H1004H362832He spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and gave him a higher place than all the other exiled kings in Babylon.H1696H2896H5414H3678H4605H3678H4428H89433He supplied Jehoiachin with new clothes to replace his prison garb and allowed him to dine in the king’s presence for the rest of his life.H8138H3608H899H8548H398H3899H6440H3117H241634So the Babylonian king gave him a regular food allowance as long as he lived. This continued until the day of his death.H737H8548H737H5414H4428H894H3117H3117H1697H3117H4194H3117H2416