Jeremiah: the siege of Jerusalem · The fall of Jerusalem

Jeremiah 38–39 WEB

^38:1Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchijah heard the words that Jeremiah spoke to all the people, saying, ²“The LORD says, ‘He who remains in this city will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, but he who goes out to the Chaldeans will live. He will escape with his life and he will live.’ ³The LORD says, ‘This city will surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and he will take it.’” ⁴Then the princes said to the king, “Please let this man be put to death, because he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words to them; for this man doesn’t seek the welfare of this people, but harm.” ⁵Zedekiah the king said, “Behold, he is in your hand; for the king can’t do anything to oppose you.” ⁶Then they took Jeremiah and threw him into the dungeon of Malchijah the king’s son, that was in the court of the guard. They let down Jeremiah with cords. In the dungeon there was no water, but mire; and Jeremiah sank in the mire. ⁷Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, a eunuch, who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon (the king was then sitting in Benjamin’s gate), ⁸Ebedmelech went out of the king’s house, and spoke to the king, saying, ⁹“My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon. He is likely to die in the place where he is, because of the famine; for there is no more bread in the city.” ¹⁰Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, “Take from here thirty men with you, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he dies.” ¹¹So Ebedmelech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took from there rags and worn-out garments, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah. ¹²Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Now put these rags and worn-out garments under your armpits under the cords.” Jeremiah did so. ¹³So they lifted Jeremiah up with the cords, and took him up out of the dungeon; and Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard. ¹⁴Then Zedekiah the king sent and took Jeremiah the prophet to himself into the third entry that is in the LORD’s house. Then the king said to Jeremiah, “I will ask you something. Hide nothing from me.” ¹⁵Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I declare it to you, will you not surely put me to death? If I give you counsel, you will not listen to me.” ¹⁶So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, “As the LORD lives, who made our souls, I will not put you to death, neither will I give you into the hand of these men who seek your life.” ¹⁷Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “The LORD, the God of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you will go out to the king of Babylon’s princes, then your soul will live, and this city will not be burned with fire. You will live, along with your house. ¹⁸But if you will not go out to the king of Babylon’s princes, then this city will be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they will burn it with fire, and you won’t escape out of their hand.’” ¹⁹Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have defected to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me.” ²⁰But Jeremiah said, “They won’t deliver you. Obey, I beg you, the LORD’s voice, in that which I speak to you; so it will be well with you, and your soul will live. ²¹But if you refuse to go out, this is the word that the LORD has shown me: ²²‘Behold, all the women who are left in the king of Judah’s house will be brought out to the king of Babylon’s princes, and those women will say, “Your familiar friends have turned on you, and have prevailed over you. Your feet are sunk in the mire, they have turned away from you.” ²³They will bring out all your wives and your children to the Chaldeans. You won’t escape out of their hand, but will be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon. You will cause this city to be burned with fire.’” ²⁴Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no man know of these words, and you won’t die. ²⁵But if the princes hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you, and tell you, ‘Declare to us now what you have said to the king; don’t hide it from us, and we will not put you to death; also tell us what the king said to you;’ ²⁶then you shall tell them, ‘I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan’s house, to die there.’” ²⁷Then all the princes came to Jeremiah, and asked him; and he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they stopped speaking with him, for the matter was not perceived. ²⁸So Jeremiah stayed in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken.

^39:1In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem, and besieged it. ²In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city. ³All the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate: Nergal Sharezer, Samgarnebo, Sarsechim the Rabsaris, Nergal Sharezer the Rabmag, with all the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon. ⁴When Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, then they fled and went out of the city by night, by the way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the two walls; and he went out toward the Arabah. ⁵But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. When they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; and he pronounced judgment on him. ⁶Then the king of Babylon killed Zedekiah’s sons in Riblah before his eyes. The king of Babylon also killed all the nobles of Judah. ⁷Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon. ⁸The Chaldeans burned the king’s house and the people’s houses with fire and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. ⁹Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive into Babylon the rest of the people who remained in the city, the deserters also who fell away to him, and the rest of the people who remained. ¹⁰But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, who had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time. ¹¹Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon commanded Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard concerning Jeremiah, saying, ¹²“Take him and take care of him. Do him no harm; but do to him even as he tells you.” ¹³So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, Nebushazban, Rabsaris, and Nergal Sharezer, Rabmag, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon ¹⁴sent and took Jeremiah out of the court of the guard, and committed him to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, that he should bring him home. So he lived among the people. ¹⁵Now the LORD’s word came to Jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the guard, saying, ¹⁶“Go, and speak to Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, ‘The LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will bring my words on this city for evil, and not for good; and they will be accomplished before you in that day. ¹⁷But I will deliver you in that day,” says the LORD; “and you will not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid. ¹⁸For I will surely save you. You won’t fall by the sword, but you will escape with your life, because you have put your trust in me,” says the LORD.’”

2 Kings 25 WEB

¹In the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it around it. ²So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. ³On the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. ⁴Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden (now the Chaldeans were against the city around it); and the king went by the way of the Arabah. ⁵But the Chaldean army pursued the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him. ⁶Then they captured the king and carried him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they passed judgment on him. ⁷They killed Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes, then put out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon. ⁸Now in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. ⁹He burned the LORD’s house, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He burned every great house with fire. ¹⁰All the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem. ¹¹Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive the rest of the people who were left in the city and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon—all the rest of the multitude. ¹²But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to work the vineyards and fields. ¹³The Chaldeans broke up the pillars of bronze that were in the LORD’s house and the bases and the bronze sea that were in the LORD’s house, and carried the bronze pieces to Babylon. ¹⁴They took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the spoons, and all the vessels of bronze with which they ministered. ¹⁵The captain of the guard took away the fire pans, the basins, that which was of gold, for gold, and that which was of silver, for silver. ¹⁶The two pillars, the one sea, and the bases, which Solomon had made for the LORD’s house, the bronze of all these vessels was not weighed. ¹⁷The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a capital of bronze was on it. The height of the capital was three cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capital around it, all of bronze; and the second pillar with its network was like these. ¹⁸The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold; ¹⁹and out of the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war; and five men of those who saw the king’s face, who were found in the city; and the scribe, the captain of the army, who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city. ²⁰Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah. ²¹The king of Babylon attacked them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive out of his land. ²²As for the people who were left in the land of Judah whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor. ²³Now when all the captains of the forces, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan the son of Kareah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men. ²⁴Gedaliah swore to them and to their men, and said to them, “Don’t be afraid because of the servants of the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you.” ²⁵But in the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal offspring came, and ten men with him, and struck Gedaliah so that he died, with the Jews and the Chaldeans that were with him at Mizpah. ²⁶All the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces arose and came to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeans. ²⁷In the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, released Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison, ²⁸and he spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon, ²⁹and changed his prison garments. Jehoiachin ate bread before him continually all the days of his life; ³⁰and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him from the king, every day a portion, all the days of his life.