Jeremiah 52:1

The Fall of Jerusalem

52:1 ¹ Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem ²  for eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal ³  daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah.

Jeremiah 39:2

39:2 It lasted until the ninth day of the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year. ⁴  On that day they broke through the city walls.

Jeremiah 52:5

52:5 The city remained under siege until Zedekiah’s eleventh year.

Jeremiah 25:3

25:3 “For the last twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year that Josiah son of Amon was ruling in Judah ⁵  until now, the Lord has been speaking to me. I told you over and over again ⁶  what he said. ⁷  But you would not listen.

Jeremiah 1:2

1:2 The Lord ⁸  began to speak to him ⁹  in the thirteenth year that Josiah son of Amon ruled over Judah.

Jeremiah 25:11

25:11 This whole area ¹⁰  will become a desolate wasteland. These nations will be subject to the king of Babylon for seventy years.’ ¹¹ 

Jeremiah 32:1

Jeremiah Buys a Field

32:1 In the tenth year that Zedekiah was ruling over Judah the Lord spoke to Jeremiah. ¹²  That was the same as the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.

Jeremiah 1:3

1:3 The Lord also spoke to him when Jehoiakim son of Josiah ruled over Judah, and he continued to speak to him until the fifth month of the eleventh year ¹³  that Zedekiah son of Josiah ruled over Judah. That was when the people of Jerusalem ¹⁴  were taken into exile. ¹⁵ 

Jeremiah 25:12

25:12 “‘But when the seventy years are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation ¹⁶  for their sins. I will make the land of Babylon ¹⁷  an everlasting ruin. ¹⁸  I, the Lord, affirm it! ¹⁹ 

Jeremiah 29:10

29:10 “For the Lord says, ‘Only when the seventy years of Babylonian rule ²⁰  are over will I again take up consideration for you. ²¹  Then I will fulfill my gracious promise to you and restore ²²  you to your homeland. ²³ 

Jeremiah 52:12

52:12 On the tenth ²⁴  day of the fifth month, ²⁵  in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard ²⁶  who served ²⁷  the king of Babylon, arrived in Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 52:31

Jehoiachin in Exile

52:31 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, on the twenty-fifth ²⁸  day of the twelfth month, ²⁹  Evil-Merodach, in the first year of his reign, pardoned ³⁰  King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him from prison.

¹ sn This final chapter does not mention Jeremiah, but its description of the downfall of Jerusalem and exile of the people validates the prophet’s ministry.

² map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

³ tn Some textual witnesses support the Kethib (consonantal text) in reading “Hamital.”

⁴ sn According to modern reckoning that would have been July 18, 586 b.c. The siege thus lasted almost a full eighteen months.

⁷ sn The year referred to would be 627 b.c. The same year is referred to in 1:2 in reference to his call to be a prophet.

⁸ tn For the idiom involved here see the notes at 7:13 and 11:7.

⁹ tn The words “what he said” are not in the text but are implicit. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰ sn The translation reflects the ancient Jewish tradition of substituting the word for “Lord” for the proper name for Israel’s God which is now generally agreed to have been Yahweh. Jewish scribes wrote the consonants YHWH but substituted the vowels for the word “Lord.” The practice of calling him “Lord” rather than using his proper name is also reflected in the Greek translation which is the oldest translation of the Hebrew Bible. The meaning of the name Yahweh occurs in Exod 3:13-14 where God identifies himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and tells Moses that his name is “I am” (אֶהְיֶה, ’ehyeh). However, he instructs the Israelites to refer to him as YHWH (“Yahweh” = “He is”); see further Exod 34:5-6.

¹¹ tn Heb “to whom the word of the Lord came.” The present translation is more in keeping with contemporary English idiom. The idea of “began to speak” comes from the context where the conclusion of his speaking is signaled by the phrases “until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah” and “until the people of Jerusalem were taken into exile” in v. 3.

¹³ tn Heb “All this land.”

¹⁴ sn It should be noted that the text says that the nations will be subject to the king of Babylon for seventy years, not that they will lie desolate for seventy years. Though several proposals have been made for dating this period, many ignore this fact. This most likely refers to the period beginning with Nebuchadnezzar’s defeat of Pharaoh Necho at Carchemish in 605 b.c. and the beginning of his rule over Babylon. At this time Babylon became the dominant force in the area and continued to be so until the fall of Babylon in 538 b.c. More particularly Judah became a vassal state (cf. Jer 46:2; 2 Kgs 24:1) in 605 b.c. and was allowed to return to her homeland in 538 when Cyrus issued his edict allowing all the nations exiled by Babylon to return to their homelands. (See 2 Chr 36:21 and Ezra 1:2-4; the application there is made to Judah but the decree of Cyrus was broader.)

¹⁶ tn Heb “The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the eleventh year of…” See 7:1; 11:1; 18:1; 21:1; 30:1 for this same formula.

¹⁹ sn This would have been August, 586 b.c. according to modern reckoning.

²⁰ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

²¹ tn Heb “and it [the word of the Lord] came in the days of Jehoiakim…until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah…until the carrying away captive of Jerusalem in the fifth month.”

²² tn Heb “that nation.”

²³ tn Heb “the land of the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for the use of the term “Chaldeans.”

²⁴ tn Heb “I will visit upon the king of Babylon and upon that nation, oracle of the Lord, their iniquity even upon the land of the Chaldeans and I will make it everlasting ruins.” The sentence has been restructured to avoid ambiguity and to conform the style more to contemporary English.

²⁵ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

²⁵ sn See the study note on Jer 25:11 for the reckoning of the seventy years.

²⁶ tn See the translator’s note on Jer 27:22 for this term.

²⁷ tn Verse 10 is all one long sentence in the Hebrew original: “According to the fullness of Babylon seventy years I will take thought of you and I will establish my gracious word to you by bringing you back to this place.” The sentence has been broken up to conform better to contemporary English style.

²⁸ tn Heb “this place.” The text has probably been influenced by the parallel passage in 27:22. The term appears fifteen times in Jeremiah and is invariably a reference to Jerusalem or Judah.

²⁸ tn The parallel account in 2 Kgs 25:8 has “seventh.”

²⁹ sn The tenth day of the month would have been August 17, 586 b.c. in modern reckoning.

³⁰ tn For the meaning of this phrase see BDB 371 s.v. טַבָּח 2 and compare the usage in Gen 39:1.

³¹ tn Heb “stood before.”

³¹ sn The parallel account in 2 Kgs 25:28 has “twenty-seventh.”

³² sn The twenty-fifth day would be March 20, 561 b.c. in modern reckoning.

³³ tn Heb “lifted up the head of.”