Jeremiah 32:24

32:24 Even now siege ramps have been built up around the city ¹  in order to capture it. War, ²  starvation, and disease are sure to make the city fall into the hands of the Babylonians ³  who are attacking it. ⁴  Lord, ⁵  you threatened that this would happen. Now you can see that it is already taking place. ⁶ 

Jeremiah 39:1-2

39:1 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and laid siege to it. The siege began in the tenth month of the ninth year that Zedekiah ruled over Judah. ⁷  39:2 It lasted until the ninth day of the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year. ⁸  On that day they broke through the city walls.

Jeremiah 52:3-6

52:3 What follows is a record of what happened to Jerusalem and Judah because of the Lord’s anger when he drove them out of his sight. ⁹  Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 52:4 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and set up camp outside it. ¹⁰  They built siege ramps all around it. He arrived on the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year that Zedekiah ruled over Judah. ¹¹  52:5 The city remained under siege until Zedekiah’s eleventh year. 52:6 By the ninth day of the fourth month ¹²  the famine in the city was so severe the residents ¹³  had no food.

Jeremiah 52:2

52:2 He did what displeased the Lord ¹⁴  just as Jehoiakim had done.

Jeremiah 25:1-2

Seventy Years of Servitude for Failure to Give Heed

25:1 In the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah, the Lord spoke to Jeremiah ¹⁵  concerning all the people of Judah. (That was the same as the first year that Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon.) ¹⁶  25:2 So the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the people who were living in Jerusalem. ¹⁷ 

¹ tn Heb “Siege ramps have come up to the city to capture it.”

² tn Heb “sword.”

³ tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for further explanation.

⁴ tn Heb “And the city has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it because of the sword, starvation, and disease.” The verb “has been given” is one of those perfects that view the action as good as done (the perfect of certainty or prophetic perfect).

⁵ tn The word “Lord” is not in the text but is supplied in the translation as a reminder that it is he who is being addressed.

⁶ tn Heb “And what you said has happened and behold you see it.”

⁷ sn 2 Kgs 25:1 and Jer 52:4 give the more precise date of the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year which would have been Jan 15, 588 b.c. The reckoning is based on the calendar that begins the year in the spring (Nisan = March/April).

⁸ sn According to modern reckoning that would have been July 18, 586 b.c. The siege thus lasted almost a full eighteen months.

⁹ tn Heb “Surely (or “for”) because of the anger of the Lord this happened in Jerusalem and Judah until he drove them out from upon his face.” For the phrase “drive out of his sight,” see 7:15.

¹⁰ tn Or “against.”

¹¹ sn This would have been January 15, 588 b.c. The reckoning is based on the calendar that begins the year in the spring (Nisan = March/April).

¹² sn According to modern reckoning that would have been July 18, 586 b.c. The siege thus lasted almost a full eighteen months.

¹³ tn Heb “the people of the land.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “what was evil in the eyes of the Lord.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “The word was to Jeremiah.” It is implicit from the context that it was the Lord’s word. The verbal expression is more in keeping with contemporary English style.

¹⁶ sn The year referred to would be 605 b.c. Jehoiakim had been placed on the throne of Judah as a puppet king by Pharaoh Necho after the defeat of Josiah at Megiddo in 609 b.c. (2 Kgs 23:34-35). According to Jer 46:2 Nebuchadnezzar defeated Necho at Carchemish in that same year. After defeating Necho, Nebuchadnezzar had hurried back to Babylon where he was made king. After being made king he then returned to Judah and attacked Jerusalem (Dan 1:1. The date given there is the third year of Jehoiakim but scholars are generally agreed that the dating there is based on a different system than the one here. It did not count the part of the year before New Year’s day as an official part of the king’s official rule. Hence, the third year there is the fourth year here.) The identity of the foe from the north referred to in general terms (4:6; 6:1; 15:12) now becomes clear.

¹⁷ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.