Jeremiah 52

1 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became the King [of Judah]. He ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother was Hamutal, the daughter of [a man named] Jeremiah from Libnah [town].

2 And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

Zedekiah did [many] things that Yahweh says are evil, like [his father] Jehoiakim had done.

3 For, because the anger of Jehovah was against Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence, Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

[The events that are summarized here happened] because Yahweh was angry with [the people of] Jerusalem and [of other places in] Judah, and finally he (exiled them/forced them to go to other countries) [and said that he did not want to have anything to do with] them any more. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

4 And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, [that] Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem; and they encamped against it, and built turrets against it round about.

[So, ] on January 15, when Zedekiah had been ruling for almost nine years, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon led his entire army to attack Jerusalem. They surrounded the city and built dirt ramps up to the top of the city walls [to enable them to attack the city].

5 And the city was besieged until the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.

They continued to surround Jerusalem until Zedekiah had been ruling for almost eleven years.

6 In the fourth month, on the ninth of the month, the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.

When Zedekiah had been ruling for almost eleven years, by July 18 of that year, the (famine/lack of food) in the city had become very severe, and there was no [more] food for the people [to eat].

7 And the city was broken into: and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden (now the Chaldeans were near the city round about); and they went the way toward the plain.

Then [the soldiers of Babylonia] broke through [a section of] the city wall, and all the [Israeli] soldiers fled. But because the city was surrounded by soldiers from Babylonia, [Zedekiah and the Israeli] soldiers [waited until] it became dark. Then they left the city through the gate between the two walls behind the king’s garden. Then they ran towards the Jordan River Valley.

8 And the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.

But the soldiers of Babylonia pursued King Zedekiah, and they caught up with him on the plains near Jericho. [He was alone because] all his men had deserted him and had scattered.

9 And they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon, unto Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he pronounced judgment upon him.

The soldiers of Babylonia took him to the king of Babylon, who was at Riblah in the Hamath [region]. There the king of Babylon told [his soldiers what] they should do to punish Zedekiah.

10 And the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; and he slaughtered also all the princes of Judah in Riblah.

They forced Zedekiah to watch while they killed his sons and all the officials from Judah.

11 And he put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with chains of brass; and the king of Babylon carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.

[Then] they gouged out Zedekiah’s eyes. They fastened him with bronze chains and took him to Babylon. They put him in a prison, and he remained there until the day that he died.

12 And in the fifth month, on the tenth of the month, which was in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzar-adan, captain of the body-guard, who stood before the king of Babylon, came unto Jerusalem;

On August 17 of that year, which was when King Nebuchadnezzar had been ruling for almost 19 years, Nebuzaradan, who was the captain of the king’s bodyguards and one of the king’s officials, arrived in Jerusalem.

13 and he burned the house of Jehovah, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; and every great [man's] house he burned with fire.

He [commanded his soldiers to] burn down the temple of Yahweh, the king’s palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem. They [also] destroyed all the important buildings [in the city].

14 And all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the body-guard, broke down all the walls of Jerusalem round about.

Then he supervised the soldiers from Babylonia while they tore down the walls on all sides of Jerusalem.

15 And Nebuzar-adan the captain of the body-guard carried away captive of the poorest sort of the people, and the rest of the people that were left in the city, and the deserters that had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.

Then Nebuzaradan (forced to go/exiled) [to Babylon] some of the poorest people, those Israelis who had said they would support the king of Babylon, the rest of the craftsmen, and other people who had remained in Jerusalem.

16 But Nebuzar-adan the captain of the body-guard left of the poor of the land for vinedressers and for husbandmen.

But Nebuzaradan allowed some of the very poor people to remain [in Judah] to take care of the vineyards and fields.

17 And the brazen pillars that were in the house of Jehovah, and the bases, and the brazen sea that was in the house of Jehovah, the Chaldeans broke up, and carried all the brass thereof to Babylon.

The soldiers from Babylonia broke [into pieces] the [huge] bronze pillars that were in front of the temple, and the [large] bronze water tank, and the [ten bronze water] carts, and they took all the bronze to Babylon.

18 The pots also, and the shovels, and the knives, and the bowls, and the cups, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, they took away.

They also took away the basins [for holding the ashes from the burned sacrifices], the shovels [for cleaning out the ashes], the tools for snuffing out the wicks of the lamps, the basins [for holding the blood of the sacrificed animals], the dishes [for incense], and all the [other] bronze items that were used when sacrifices were made at the temple.

19 And the basons and the censers, and the bowls, and the pots, and the candlesticks, and the cups, and the goblets, that which was of gold in gold, and that which was of silver in silver, the captain of the body-guard took away.

Nebuzaradan also [told his soldiers to] take away the small bowls, the dishes for burning incense, the basins, pots, lampstands, bowls [for incense], and the bowls used for pouring out the wine offerings. They took all the other items that were made of pure gold or silver.

20 The two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve brazen oxen that formed the bases, which king Solomon had made for the house of Jehovah: for the brass of all these vessels there was no weight.

The bronze from the two pillars, the [large water] tank and the twelve statues of oxen that were beneath it, and the water carts, was more/heavier than they could weigh. Those things had been made for the temple during the time that Solomon was the king.

21 And as to the pillars: the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a line of twelve cubits encompassed it; and the thickness thereof was four fingers: it was hollow.

Each of the pillars was (27 feet/8 meters) tall and (18 feet/5.5 meters) around. They were hollow, and each had sides/walls that were (3 in./8 cm.) thick.

22 And the capital upon it was brass, and the height of the one capital [was] five cubits; and the network and the pomegranates, upon the capital round about, all of brass; and similarly for the second pillar, and the pomegranates.

The bronze head on the top of each pillar was (7-1/2 feet/over 2 meters) high and was decorated all around with a bronze [network of figures that represented] pomegranates.

23 And there were ninety-six pomegranates on the [four] sides; all the pomegranates upon the network were a hundred round about.

There was a total of 100 figures of pomegranates on the network at the top, 96 of which could be seen from the ground.

24 And the captain of the body-guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers.

When Nebuzaradan [returned to Babylon], he took [with him as prisoners] Seraiah the Supreme Priest, Zephaniah who was Seraiah’s deputy, and the three men who guarded the entrances [to the temple].

25 And out of the city he took a eunuch that was set over the men of war, and seven men of them that were in the king's presence, who were found in the city, and the scribe of the captain of the host, who enrolled the people of the land. And sixty men of the people of the land that were found in the midst of the city.

He found [some other] people who were [hiding] in the city. [So] from them he took a commander of the army [of Judah], seven of the king’s advisors, the army commander’s chief secretary who was in charge of recruiting [soldiers for the army], and 60 [other] soldiers.

26 And Nebuzar-adan the captain of the body-guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah;

Nebuzaradan took them all to the king of Babylon, [who was still] at Riblah.

27 and the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive out of his land.

There at Riblah in the Hamath region, the king of Babylon commanded that they [all] be executed. [Many of the people of] Judah were (forced to leave/exiled from) their own land.

28 This is the people whom Nebuchadrezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year three thousand and twenty-three Jews;

The number of people who were captured and sent to Babylon at that time, when Nebuchadnezzar had been ruling for almost seven years, was 3,023.

29 in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar [he carried away captive] from Jerusalem eight hundred and thirty-two persons;

Then, when he had been ruling for almost 18 years, his [soldiers] took 832 [more Israeli people to Babylonia].

30 in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadrezzar, Nebuzar-adan the captain of the body-guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred and forty-five persons: all the persons were four thousand six hundred.

When he had been ruling almost 23 years, he sent Nebuzaradan [to Jerusalem again], and he brought back 745 [more Israelis to Babylonia]. That was a total of 4,600 Israelis [who were taken to Babylonia].

31 And it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth of the month, [that] Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison;

After King Jehoiachin of Judah had been in prison [in Babylon] for almost thirty-seven years, Evil-Merodach became the king of Babylon. He was kind to Jehoiachin and ordered that he be released from prison. That was on March 31 of the year that Evil-Merodach became king.

32 and he spoke kindly unto him, and set his seat above the seat of the kings that were with him in Babylon.

He [always] spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and gave him a position in which he was honored more than [all] the other kings [who had been exiled/taken to Babylon].

33 And he changed his prison garments; and he ate bread before him continually all the days of his life;

He [supplied new clothes] for Jehoiachin, to replace the clothes that he had been wearing in prison. [He also allowed] Jehoiachin to eat with him every day, all during the rest of his life.

34 and his allowance was a continual allowance given him by the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.

Every day, the King [of Babylon] gave him some money [to buy the things that he needed. That continued] until the day that Jehoiachin died.