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. ¹  39:2 It lasted until the ninth day of the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year. ²  On that day they broke through the city walls.

Jeremiah 52:4

52:4 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and set up camp outside it. ³  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. ⁴ 

Luke 19:42-44

19:42 saying, “If you had only known on this day, ⁵  even you, the things that make for peace! ⁶  But now they are hidden ⁷  from your eyes. 19:43 For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build ⁸  an embankment ⁹  against you and surround you and close in on you from every side. 19:44 They will demolish you ¹⁰  – you and your children within your walls ¹¹  – and they will not leave within you one stone ¹²  on top of another, ¹³  because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.” ¹⁴ 

¹ 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).

² sn According to modern reckoning that would have been July 18, 586 b.c. The siege thus lasted almost a full eighteen months.

³ tn Or “against.”

⁴ 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).

⁵ sn On this day. They had missed the time of Messiah’s coming; see v. 44.

⁶ tn Grk “the things toward peace.” This expression seems to mean “the things that would ‘lead to,’ ‘bring about,’ or ‘make for’ peace.”

⁷ sn But now they are hidden from your eyes. This becomes an oracle of doom in the classic OT sense; see Luke 13:31-35; 11:49-51; Jer 9:2; 13:7; 14:7. They are now blind and under judgment (Jer 15:5; Ps 122:6).

⁸ sn Jesus now predicted the events that would be fulfilled in the fall of Jerusalem in a.d. 70. The details of the siege have led some to see Luke writing this after Jerusalem’s fall, but the language of the verse is like God’s exilic judgment for covenant unfaithfulness (Hab 2:8; Jer 6:6, 14; 8:13-22; 9:1; Ezek 4:2; 26:8; Isa 29:1-4). Specific details are lacking and the procedures described (build an embankment against you) were standard Roman military tactics.

⁹ sn An embankment refers to either wooden barricades or earthworks, or a combination of the two.

¹⁰ tn Grk “They will raze you to the ground.”

¹¹ tn Grk “your children within you.” The phrase “[your] walls” has been supplied in the translation to clarify that the city of Jerusalem, metaphorically pictured as an individual, is spoken of here.

¹² sn (Not) one stone on top of another is an idiom for total destruction.

¹³ tn Grk “leave stone on stone.”

¹⁴ tn Grk “the time of your visitation.” To clarify what this refers to, the words “from God” are supplied at the end of the verse, although they do not occur in the Greek text.