11 and the eyes of Zedekiah he hath blinded, and he bindeth him in brazen fetters, and the king of Babylon bringeth him to Babylon, and putteth him in the house of inspection unto the day of his death.
12 And in the fifth month, in the tenth of the month -- it `is' the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon -- come hath Nebuzar-Adan, chief of the executioners; he hath stood before the king of Babylon in Jerusalem,
13 and he burneth the house of Jehovah, and the house of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house he hath burned with fire,
14 and all the walls of Jerusalem round about broken down have all the forces of the Chaldeans that `are' with the chief of the executioners.
15 And of the poor of the people, and the remnant of the people who are left in the city, and those who are falling away, who have fallen unto the king of Babylon, and the remnant of the multitude, hath Nebuzar-Adan chief of the executioners, removed;
16 and of the poor of the land hath Nebuzar-Adan, chief of the executioners, left for vine-dressers and for husbandmen.
17 And the pillars of brass that `are' to the house of Jehovah, and the bases, and the brasen sea that `is' in the house of Jehovah, have the Chaldeans broken, and they bear away all the brass of them to Babylon;
18 and the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass with which they minister, they have taken away;
19 and the basins, and the fire-pans, and the bowls, and the pots, and the candlesticks, and the spoons, and the cups, the gold of that which `is' gold, and the silver of that which `is' silver, hath the chief of the executioners taken.
20 The two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve brazen oxen that `are' beneath the bases, that king Solomon made for the house of Jehovah, there was no weighing of the brass of all these vessels.
21 As to the pillars, eighteen cubits `is' the height of the one pillar, and a cord of twelve cubits doth compass it, and its thickness `is' four fingers hollow.
22 And the chapiter upon it `is' of brass, and the height of the one chapiter `is' five cubits, and net-work and pomegranates `are' on the chapiter round about, the whole `is' of brass; and like these have the second pillar, and pomegranates.
23 And the pomegranates are ninety and six on a side, all the pomegranates `are' a hundred on the net-work round about.
24 And the chief of the executioners taketh Seraiah the head priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold,
25 and out of the city he hath taken a certain eunuch, who hath been inspector over the men of war, and seven men of those seeing the king's face, who have been found in the city, and the head scribe of the host, who mustereth the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land, who are found in the midst of the city;
26 and Nebuzar-Adan, chief of the executioners, taketh them, and bringeth them unto the king of Babylon to Riblah,
27 and the king of Babylon smiteth them, and putteth them to death in Riblah, in the land of Hamath, and he removeth Judah from off its own ground.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 52
Commentary on Jeremiah 52 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 52
History is the best expositor of prophecy; and therefore, for the better understanding of the prophecies of this book which relate to the destruction of Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah, we are here furnished with an account of that sad event. It is much he same with the history we had 2 Ki. 24 and 25, and many of the particulars we had before in that book, but the matter is here repeated and put together, to give light to the book of the Lamentations, which follows next, and to serve as a key to it. That article in the close concerning the advancement of Jehoiachin in his captivity, which happened after Jeremiah's time, gives colour to the conjecture of those who suppose that this chapter was not written by Jeremiah himself, but by some man divinely inspired among those in captivity, for a constant memorandum to those who in Babylon preferred Jerusalem above their chief joy. In this chapter we have,
Jer 52:1-11
This narrative begins no higher than the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, though there were two captivities before, one in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the other in the first of Jeconiah; but probably it was drawn up by some of those that were carried away with Zedekiah, as a reproach to themselves for imagining that they should not go into captivity after their brethren, with which hopes they had long flattered themselves. We have here,
Jer 52:12-23
We have here an account of the woeful havoc that was made by the Chaldean army, a month after the city was taken, under the command of Nebuzaradan, who was captain of the guard, or general of the army, in this action. In the margin he is called the chief of the slaughter-men, or executioners; for soldiers are but slaughter-men, and God employs them as executioners of his sentence against a sinful people. Nebuzaradan was chief of those soldiers, but, in the execution he did, we have reason to fear he had no eye to God, but he served the king of Babylon and his own designs, now that he came into Jerusalem, into the very bowels of it, as captain of the slaughter-men there. And,
Jer 52:24-30
We have here a very melancholy account,
Jer 52:31-34
This passage of story concerning the reviving which king Jehoiachin had in his bondage we had likewise before (2 Ki. 25:27-30), only there it is said to be done on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month, here on the twenty-fifth; but in a thing of this nature two days make a very slight difference in the account. It is probable that the orders were given for his release on the twenty-fifth day, but that he was not presented to the king till the twenty-seventh. We may observe in this story,