Jeremiah 52:1-6

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. 52:2 He did what displeased the Lord ⁴  just as Jehoiakim had done.

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. ⁵  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. ⁶  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. ⁷  52:5 The city remained under siege until Zedekiah’s eleventh year. 52:6 By the ninth day of the fourth month ⁸  the famine in the city was so severe the residents ⁹  had no food.

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

⁵ 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.

⁶ tn Or “against.”

⁷ 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).

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 “the people of the land.”