Jeremiah 52 — Read & Listen Online | Father's Heart Bible™

Jerusalem Falls

Chapter 52.

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. He did what was evil in the eyes of our Father, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. For all this came upon Jerusalem and Judah because of our Father's anger, until he cast them out from his presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

Now in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem. They camped against it and built siege works against it all around. So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

In the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine was so severe in the city that there was no bread for the people of the land. Then the city was breached, and all the soldiers fled and went out from the city by night by way of the gate between the two walls, by the king's garden, while the Chaldeans were surrounding the city. And they went toward the Arabah. ^a But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and his whole army had scattered. Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him. The king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also slaughtered all the officials of Judah at Riblah. He put out Zedekiah's eyes and bound him in bronze chains, and the king of Babylon brought him to Babylon and put him in prison until the day of his death.

The Father's House Destroyed

Now in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month—that was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He burned the house of our Father, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls around Jerusalem. Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile some of the poorest of the people, along with the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the craftsmen. But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to tend the vineyards and work the fields.

The pillars of bronze that belonged to the house of our Father, and the stands and the bronze sea that were in the house of our Father, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and they carried all the bronze to Babylon. ^b They also took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the basins, the dishes, and all the bronze vessels used in the temple service. The captain of the guard also took away the small bowls, the fire pans, the basins, the pots, the lampstands, the dishes for incense, and the bowls for drink offerings—whatever was of gold he took as gold, and whatever was of silver as silver.

As for the two pillars, the bronze sea, the twelve bronze bulls that were under the stands, which King Solomon had made for the house of our Father—the bronze of all these things was too great to weigh. As for the pillars, each one stood about twenty-seven feet tall, was about eighteen feet around, had walls about three inches thick, and was hollow. On it was a bronze capital; the capital was about seven and a half feet high, with a network and pomegranates all around, all of bronze. The second pillar was the same, with its pomegranates. There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; the total was a hundred pomegranates on the network all around.

The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the deputy high priest, and the three gatekeepers; and from the city he took an officer who had been in command of the soldiers, and seven men of the king's council who were found in the city, and the secretary of the army commander who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found within the city. Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. And the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah went into exile from its own land.

This is the number of the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried into exile: in the seventh year, 3,023 Judeans;

In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, 832 persons from Jerusalem;

In the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile 745 Judeans; the total was 4,600 people.

Jehoiachin Lifted From Prison

Now in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year he began to reign, showed favor to Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison. He spoke kindly to him and gave him a higher seat than the other kings who were with him in Babylon. So Jehoiachin took off his prison garments, and every day of his life he ate regularly at the king's table. The king of Babylon gave him a regular daily allowance for the rest of his life, until the day of his death.

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