4 And it cometh to pass, in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth of the month, come hath Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon -- he and all his force -- against Jerusalem, and they encamp against it, and build against it a fortification round about;
In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, come hath Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his force unto Jerusalem, and they lay siege against it;
And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth of the month, saying, `Son of man, write for thee the name of the day -- this self-same day leaned hath the king of Babylon toward Jerusalem in this self-same day --
`Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: The fast of the fourth, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth `months', are to the house of Judah for joy and for rejoicing, and for pleasant appointed seasons, and the truth and the peace they have loved.
`Lo, the mounts -- they have come in to the city to capture it, and the city hath been given into the hand of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it, because of the sword, and the famine, and the pestilence; and that which Thou hast spoken hath come to pass, and lo, Thou art seeing;
then is the city broken up, and all the men of war flee, and go forth from the city by night, the way of the gate between the two walls, that `is' by the king's garden -- and the Chaldeans `are' by the city round about -- and they go the way of the plain.
`And it hath laid siege to thee in all thy gates, till thy walls come down, the high and the fenced ones in which thou art trusting, in all thy land; yea, it hath laid siege to thee in all thy gates, in all thy land, which Jehovah thy God hath given to thee; and thou hast eaten the fruit of thy body, flesh of thy sons and thy daughters (whom Jehovah thy God hath given to thee), in the siege, and in the straitness with which thine enemies do straiten thee. `The man who is tender in thee, and who `is' very delicate -- his eye is evil against his brother, and against the wife of his bosom, and against the remnant of his sons whom he leaveth, against giving to one of them of the flesh of his sons whom he eateth, because he hath nothing left to him, in the siege, and in the straitness with which thine enemy doth straiten thee in all thy gates. `The tender woman in thee, and the delicate, who hath not tried the sole of her foot to place on the ground because of delicateness and because of tenderness -- her eye is evil against the husband of her bosom, and against her son, and against her daughter, and against her seed which cometh out from between her feet, even against her sons whom she doth bear, for she doth eat them for the lacking of all things in secret, in the siege and in the straitness with which thine enemy doth straiten thee within thy gates.
And it cometh to pass, in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth of the month, come hath Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, he and all his force, against Jerusalem, and encampeth against it, and buildeth against it a fortification round about. And the city entereth into siege till the eleventh year of king Zedekiah, on the ninth of the month -- when the famine is severe in the city, and there hath not been bread for the people of the land, then the city is broken up, and all the men of war `go' by night the way of the gate, between the two walls that `are' by the garden of the king, and the Chaldeans `are' against the city round about, and `the king' goeth the way of the plain. And the force of the Chaldeans pursue after the king, and overtake him in the plains of Jericho, and all his force have been scattered from him; and they seize the king, and bring him up unto the king of Babylon, to Riblah, and they speak with him -- judgment. And the sons of Zedekiah they have slaughtered before his eyes, and the eyes of Zedekiah he hath blinded, and bindeth him with brazen fetters, and they bring him to Babylon. And in the fifth month, on the seventh of the month (it `is' the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), hath Nebuzaradan chief of the executioners, servant of the king of Babylon, come to Jerusalem, and he burneth the house of Jehovah, and the house of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem, yea, every great house he hath burned with fire; and the walls of Jerusalem round about have all the forces of the Chaldeans, who `are' with the chief of the executioners, broken down. And the rest of the people, those left in the city, and those falling who have fallen to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude, hath Nebuzaradan chief of the executioners removed; and of the poor of the land hath the chief of the executioners left for vine-dressers and for husbandmen. And the pillars of brass that `are' in the house of Jehovah, and the bases, and the sea of brass, that `is' in the house of Jehovah, have the Chaldeans broken in pieces, and bear away their brass to Babylon. And the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass with which they minister they have taken, and the fire-pans, and the bowls that `are' wholly of silver, hath the chief of the executioners taken. The two pillars, the one sea, and the bases that Solomon made for the house of Jehovah, there was no weighing of the brass of all these vessels; eighteen cubits `is' the height of the one pillar, and the chapiter on it `is' of brass, and the height of the chapiter `is' three cubits, and the net and the pomegranates `are' on the chapiter round about -- the whole `is' of brass; and like these hath the second pillar, with the net. And the chief of the executioners taketh Seraiah the head priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold, and out of the city he hath taken a certain eunuch who is appointed over the men of war, and five 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 city, and Nebuzaradan chief of the executioners taketh them, and causeth them to go unto the king of Babylon, to Libnah, 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 land. And the people that is left in the land of Judah whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon hath left -- he appointeth over them Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan. And all the heads of the forces hear -- they and the men -- that the king of Babylon hath appointed Gedaliah, and they come in unto Gedaliah, to Mizpah, even Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and Johanan son of Kareah, and Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maachathite -- they and their men; and Gedaliah sweareth to them, and to their men, and saith to them, `Be not afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans, dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it is good for you.' And it cometh to pass, in the seventh month, come hath Ishmael son of Nathaniah, son of Elishama of the seed of the kingdom, and ten men with him, and they smite Gedaliah, and he dieth, and the Jews and the Chaldeans who have been with him in Mizpah. And all the people rise, from small even unto great, and the heads of the forces, and come in to Egypt, for they have been afraid of the presence of the Chaldeans. And it cometh to pass, in the thirty and seventh year of the removal of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the twenty and seventh of the month hath Evil-Merodach king of Babylon lifted up, in the year of his reigning, the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, out of the house of restraint,
Who hath given Jacob for a spoil, And Israel to the spoilers? Is it not Jehovah -- He against whom we sinned? Yea, they have not been willing in His ways to walk, Nor have they hearkened to His law. And He poureth on him fury, His anger, and the strength of battle, And it setteth him on fire round about, And he hath not known, And it burneth against him, and he layeth it not to heart!
Unto her come do shepherds and their droves, They have stricken tents by her round about, They have fed each `in' his own station. Sanctify ye against her the battle, Rise, and we go up at noon. Wo to us, for turned hath the day, For stretched out are the shades of evening, `Rise, and we go up by night, And we destroy her palaces.' For thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Cut down her wood, And pour out against Jerusalem a mount, She `is' the city to be inspected, Wholly -- she is oppression in her midst.
`And thou, son of man, take to thee a brick, and thou hast put it before thee, and hast graven on it a city -- Jerusalem, and hast placed against it a siege, and builded against it a fortification, and poured out against it a mount, and placed against it camps, yea, set thou against it battering-rams round about. And thou, take to thee an iron pan, and thou hast made it a wall of iron between thee and the city; and thou hast prepared thy face against it, and it hath been in a siege, yea, thou hast laid siege against it. A sign it `is' to the house of Israel. `And thou, lie on thy left side, and thou hast placed the iniquity of the house of Israel on it; the number of the days that thou liest on it, thou bearest their iniquity. And I -- I have laid on thee the years of their iniquity, the number of days, three hundred and ninety days; and thou hast borne the iniquity of the house of Israel. And thou hast completed these, and hast lain on thy right side, a second time, and hast borne the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days -- a day for a year -- a day for a year I have appointed to thee. `And unto the siege of Jerusalem thou dost prepare thy face, and thine arm `is' uncovered, and thou hast prophesied concerning it.
At his right hath been the divination -- Jerusalem, To place battering-rams, To open the mouth with slaughter, To lift up a voice with shouting, To place battering-rams against the gates, To pour out a mount, to build a fortification.
`Because days shall come upon thee, and thine enemies shall cast around thee a rampart, and compass thee round, and press thee on every side,
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Jeremiah 52
Commentary on Jeremiah 52 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 52
Jer 52:1-34. Written by Some Other than Jeremiah (Probably Ezra) AS AN Historical Supplement to the Previous Prophecies
(See on Jer 51:64). Jeremiah, having already (thirty-ninth and fortieth chapters) given the history in the proper place, was not likely to repeat it here. Its canonical authority as inspired is shown by its being in the Septuagint version. It contains the capture and burning of Jerusalem, &c., Zedekiah's punishment, and the better treatment of Jehoiachin under Evil-merodach, down to his death. These last events were probably subsequent to Jeremiah's time.
3. through … anger of … Lord … Zedekiah rebelled—His "anger" against Jerusalem, determining Him to "cast out" His people "from His presence" heretofore manifested there, led Him to permit Zedekiah to rebel (2Ki 23:26, 27; compare Ex 9:12; 10:1; Ro 9:18). That rebellion, being in violation of his oath "by God," was sure to bring down God's vengeance (2Ch 36:13; Eze 17:15, 16, 18).
4. forts—rather, towers of wood [Kimchi], for watching the movements of the besieged from the height and annoying them with missiles.
7. (See on Jer 39:4).
9. gave judgment upon him—as guilty of rebellion and perjury (Jer 52:3; compare Eze 23:24).
11. Eze 12:13: "I will bring him to Babylon … yet shall he not see it."
prison—literally, "the house of visitations," or "punishments," that is, where there was penal work enforced on the prisoners, such as grinding. Hence the Septuagint renders it "the house of the mill." So Samson, after his eyes were put out, "ground" in the Philistine prison-house (Jud 16:21).
12. tenth day—But in 2Ki 25:8, it is said "the seventh day." Nebuzara-dan started from Riblah on the "seventh" day and arrived in Jerusalem on the "tenth" day. Seeming discrepancies, when cleared up, confirm the genuineness of Scripture; for they show there was no collusion between the writers; as in all God's works there is latent harmony under outward varieties.
13. all the houses … and all the houses of the great—the "and" defines what houses especially are meant, namely, the houses of the great men.
15. poor of … people—added to the account in 2Ki 25:11. "The poor of the people" are of the city, as distinguished from "the poor of the land," that is, of the country.
17. brake—that they might be more portable. Fulfilling the prophecy (Jer 27:19). See 1Ki 7:15, 23, 27, 50. Nothing is so particularly related here as the carrying away of the articles in the temple. The remembrance of their beauty and preciousness heightens the bitterness of their loss and the evil of sin which caused it.
brass … brazen—rather "copper … of copper."
18. (Ex 27:3).
19. of gold in gold—implying that the articles were of solid gold and silver respectively, not of a different metal inside, or alloyed [Grotius]. Whole: not breaking them as was done to the "brass" (Jer 52:17).
20. bulls … under the bases—But the bulls were not "under the bases," but under the sea (1Ki 7:25, 27, 38); the ten bases were not under the sea, but under the ten lavers. In English Version, "bases," therefore, must mean the lower parts of the sea under which the bulls were. Rather, translate, "the bulls were in the place of (that is, 'by way of'; so the Hebrew, 1Sa 14:9), bases," or supports to the sea [Buxtorf]. So the Septuagint. 2Ki 25:16 omits the "bulls," and has "and the bases"; so Grotius here reads "the bulls (which were) under (the sea) and the bases."
21. eighteen cubits—but in 2Ch 3:15, it is "thirty-five cubits." The discrepancy is thus removed. Each pillar was eighteen common cubits. The two together, deducting the base, were thirty-five, as stated in 2Ch 3:15 [Grotius]. Other ways (for example, by reference to the difference between the common and the sacred cubit) are proposed: though we are not able positively to decide now which is the true way, at least those proposed do show that the discrepancies are not irreconcilable.
22. five cubits—so 1Ki 7:16. But 2Ki 25:17 has "three cubits." There were two parts in the chapiter: the one lower and plain, of two cubits; the other, higher and curiously carved, of three cubits. The former is omitted in 2Ki 25:17, as belonging to the shaft of the pillar; the latter alone is there mentioned. Here the whole chapiter of five cubits is referred to.
23. on a side—literally, (on the side) towards the air or wind, that is, the outside of the capitals of the pillars conspicuous to the eye, opposed to the four remaining pomegranates which were not seen from the outside. The pomegranates here are ninety-six; but in 1Ki 7:20 they are two hundred on each chapiter, and four hundred on the two (2Ch 4:13). It seems there were two rows of them, one above the other, and in each row a hundred. They are here said to be ninety-six, but immediately following one hundred, and so in 1Ki 7:20. Four seem to have been unseen to one looking from one point; and the ninety-six are only those that could be seen [Vatablus]; or, the four omitted here are those separating the four sides, one pomegranate at each point of separation (or at the four corners) between the four sides [Grotius].
24. Seraiah—different from the Seraiah (Jer 51:59), son of Neriah; probably son of Azariah (1Ch 6:14).
Zephaniah—son of Maaseiah (see on Jer 21:1; Jer 29:25).
25. seven men—but in 2Ki 25:19 it is "five." Perhaps two were less illustrious persons and are therefore omitted.
principal scribe of the host—(Isa 33:18). His office was to preside over the levy and enroll recruits. Rawlinson observes that the Assyrian records are free from the exaggerated expressions found in the Egyptian. A minute account was taken of the spoil. Two "scribes of the host" are seen in every bas-relief, writing down the various objects brought to them: the heads of the slain, the prisoners, cattle, sheep, &c.
28. seventh year—in 2Ki 24:12, 14, 16, it is said "the eighth year" of Nebuchadnezzar. No doubt it was in part about the end of the seventh year, in part about the beginning of the eighth. Also in 2Ki 24:1-20, ten thousand (Jer 52:14), and seven thousand men of might, and a thousand craftsmen (Jer 52:16), are said to have been carried away, But here three thousand twenty-three. Probably the latter three thousand twenty-three were of the tribe of Judah, the remaining seven thousand out of the ten thousand were of the other tribes, out of which many Israelites still had been left in the land. The thousand "craftsmen" were exclusive of the ten thousand, as appears, by comparing 2Ki 24:14 with Jer 52:16. Probably the three thousand twenty-three of Judah were first removed in the end of "the seventh year"; the seven thousand and a thousand craftsmen in the "eighth year." This was at the first captivity under Jehoiachin.
29. eighteenth year—when Jerusalem was taken. But in Jer 52:15, and 2Ki 25:8, "the nineteenth year." Probably it was at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth [Lyra].
eight hundred and thirty and two—The most illustrious persons are meant, who no doubt were carried away first, at the end of the eighteenth year.
30. Not recorded in Kings or Chronicles. Probably it took place during the commotions that followed the death of Gedaliah (Jer 41:18; 2Ki 25:26).
four thousand and six hundred—The exact sum-total of the numbers specified here, namely, three thousand twenty-three, eight hundred thirty-two, seven hundred forty-five, not including the general multitude and the women and children (Jer 52:15; Jer 39:9; 2Ki 25:11).
31. (2Ki 25:27-30).
five and twentieth day—but in 2Ki 25:27, it is "the twenty-seventh day." Probably on the twenty-fifth the decree for his elevation was given, and the preparations for it made by releasing him from prison; and on the twenty-seventh day it was carried into effect.
Evil-merodach—son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar [Lyra]; and the Hebrew writers say that during Nebuchadnezzar's exclusion from men among beasts, Evil-merodach administered the government. When Nebuchadnezzar at the end of seven years was restored, hearing of his son's misconduct and that he had exulted in his father's calamity, he threw him into prison, where the latter met Jeconiah and contracted a friendship with him, whence arose the favor which subsequently he showed him. God, in his elevation, rewarded his having surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar (compare Jer 38:17 with 2Ki 24:12).
lifted up … head—(Compare Ge 40:13, 20; Ps 3:3; 27:6).
32. set his throne above—a mark of respect.
the kings—The Hebrew text reads (the other) "kings." "The kings" is a Masoretic correction.
33. changed … garments—gave him garments suitable to a king.
did … eat bread before him—(2Sa 9:13).
34. every day a portion—rather, "its portion," (compare 1Ki 8:59, Margin).