1Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 2And he did evil in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. 3For although the anger of Jehovah was upon Jerusalem and Judah (until He had cast them out from His presence), Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 4And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it and built siege walls against it all around. 5So the city was under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 6And in the fourth month, in the ninth of the month, the famine was so severe in the city, so that there was no food for the people of the land. 7Then 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. (And the Chaldeans lay in wait all around the city.) And they went by the way of the plain. 8But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And all his army was scattered from him. 9So they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon, to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he passed judgment against him. 10And the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. He also killed all the rulers of Judah in Riblah. 11And he put out the eyes of Zedekiah. And the king of Babylon bound him in chains, and brought him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death. 12And in the fifth month, on the tenth of the month, (which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, who served the king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem. 13And he burned the house of Jehovah, and the king's house. And he burned with fire all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great ones. 14And all the army of the Chaldeans, with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around. 15And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took captive some of the poor of the people, and the rest of the people who remained in the city, and those who deserted, who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude. 16But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poor of the land as vinedressers and farmers. 17Also the Chaldeans broke the pillars of bronze that were in the house of Jehovah, and the bases, and the bronze sea in the house of Jehovah, and carried all the bronze from them to Babylon. 18They also took away the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of bronze with which they ministered. 19And the captain of the guard took away the basins, and the firepans, and the bowls, and the pots, and the lampstands, and the spoons, and the cups; what was gold, in gold; and what was silver, in silver. 20The two pillars, one sea, and twelve bronze bulls that were under the bases, which King Solomon had made in the house of Jehovah; the bronze of all these vessels was without weight. 21And concerning the pillars: the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits. And a measuring line of twelve cubits went around it, and its thickness was four fingers; it was hollow. 22And a capital of bronze was on it. And the height of one capital was five cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capitals all around, all of bronze. The second pillar also, and the pomegranates, were like these. 23And there were ninety-six pomegranates on a side; all the pomegranates on the network were a hundred all around. 24And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers. 25He also took out of the city an official who was in charge of the men of war; and seven men from those who were close to the king, who were found in the city; and the chief scribe of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the middle of the city. 26And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah. 27And the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was taken captive out of his own land. 28These are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar took captive: in the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Jews; 29in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he took captive from Jerusalem eight hundred and thirty-two persons; 30in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took captive seven hundred and forty-five persons of the Jews. All the persons were four thousand and six hundred. 31And it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the twenty-fifth of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon in the first year of his reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him out of prison, 32and spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon. 33And he changed from his prison garments, and he ate bread before him all the days of his life. 34And as for his allowance: a continual allowance was given him from the king of Babylon, the matter day by day, until the day of his death, all the days of his life.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 3 WRITTEN BY SOME OTHER THAN JEREMIAH (PROBABLY EZRA) AS AN HISTORICAL SUPPLEMENT TO THE PREVIOUS PROPHECIES (Jer. 52:1-34)
through . . . anger of . . . Lord . . . Zedekiah rebelled--His "anger" against Jerusalem, determining Him to "cast out" His people "from His presence" heretofore manifested there, led Him to permit Zedekiah to rebel (
2Kgs 23:26-27; compare
Exod 9:12;
Exod 10:1;
Rom 9:18). That rebellion, being in violation of his oath "by God," was sure to bring down God's vengeance (
2Chr 36:13;
Ezek 17:15-
Ezek 17:16,
Ezek 17:18).
4 forts--rather, towers of wood [KIMCHI], for watching the movements of the besieged from the height and annoying them with missiles.
7 (See on
Jer 39:4).
9 gave judgment upon him--as guilty of rebellion and perjury (
Jer 52:3; compare
Ezek 23:24).
11 Ezek 12:13 : "I will bring him to Babylon . . . yet shall he not see it."
prison--literally, "the house of visitations," or "punishments," that is, where there was penal work enforced on the prisoners, such as grinding. Hence the Septuagint renders it "the house of the mill." So Samson, after his eyes were put out, "ground" in the Philistine prison-house (
Judg 16:21).
12 tenth day--But in
2Kgs 25:8, it is said "the seventh day." Nebuzara-dan started from Riblah on the "seventh" day and arrived in Jerusalem on the "tenth" day. Seeming discrepancies, when cleared up, confirm the genuineness of Scripture; for they show there was no collusion between the writers; as in all God's works there is latent harmony under outward varieties.
13 all the houses . . . and all the houses of the great--the "and" defines what houses especially are meant, namely, the houses of the great men.
15 poor of . . . people--added to the account in
2Kgs 25:11. "The poor of the people" are of the city, as distinguished from "the poor of the land," that is, of the country.
17 brake--that they might be more portable. Fulfilling the prophecy (
Jer 27:19). See
1Kgs 7:15,
1Kgs 7:23,
1Kgs 7:27,
1Kgs 7:50. Nothing is so particularly related here as the carrying away of the articles in the temple. The remembrance of their beauty and preciousness heightens the bitterness of their loss and the evil of sin which caused it.
brass . . . brazen--rather "copper . . . of copper."
18 (
Exod 27:3).
19 of gold in gold--implying that the articles were of solid gold and silver respectively, not of a different metal inside, or alloyed [GROTIUS]. Whole: not breaking them as was done to the "brass" (
Jer 52:17).
20 bulls . . . under the bases--But the bulls were not "under the bases," but under the sea (
1Kgs 7:25,
1Kgs 7:27,
1Kgs 7:38); the ten bases were not under the sea, but under the ten lavers. In English Version, "bases," therefore, must mean the lower parts of the sea under which the bulls were. Rather, translate, "the bulls were in the place of (that is, 'by way of'; so the Hebrew,
1Sam 14:9), bases," or supports to the sea [BUXTORF]. So the Septuagint.
2Kgs 25:16 omits the "bulls," and has "and the bases"; so GROTIUS here reads "the bulls (which were) under (the sea) and the bases."
21 eighteen cubits--but in
2Chr 3:15, it is "thirty-five cubits." The discrepancy is thus removed. Each pillar was eighteen common cubits. The two together, deducting the base, were thirty-five, as stated in
2Chr 3:15 [GROTIUS]. Other ways (for example, by reference to the difference between the common and the sacred cubit) are proposed: though we are not able positively to decide now which is the true way, at least those proposed do show that the discrepancies are not irreconcilable.
22 five cubits--so
1Kgs 7:16. But
2Kgs 25:17 has "three cubits." There were two parts in the chapiter: the one lower and plain, of two cubits; the other, higher and curiously carved, of three cubits. The former is omitted in
2Kgs 25:17, as belonging to the shaft of the pillar; the latter alone is there mentioned. Here the whole chapiter of five cubits is referred to.
23 on a side--literally, (on the side) towards the air or wind, that is, the outside of the capitals of the pillars conspicuous to the eye, opposed to the four remaining pomegranates which were not seen from the outside. The pomegranates here are ninety-six; but in
1Kgs 7:20 they are two hundred on each chapiter, and four hundred on the two (
2Chr 4:13). It seems there were two rows of them, one above the other, and in each row a hundred. They are here said to be ninety-six, but immediately following one hundred, and so in
1Kgs 7:20. Four seem to have been unseen to one looking from one point; and the ninety-six are only those that could be seen [VATABLUS]; or, the four omitted here are those separating the four sides, one pomegranate at each point of separation (or at the four corners) between the four sides [GROTIUS].
24 Seraiah--different from the Seraiah (
Jer 51:59), son of Neriah; probably son of Azariah (
1Chr 6:14).
Zephaniah--son of Maaseiah (see on
Jer 21:1;
Jer 29:25).
25 seven men--but in
2Kgs 25:19 it is "five." Perhaps two were less illustrious persons and are therefore omitted.
principal scribe of the host-- (
Isa 33:18). His office was to preside over the levy and enroll recruits. RAWLINSON observes that the Assyrian records are free from the exaggerated expressions found in the Egyptian. A minute account was taken of the spoil. Two "scribes of the host" are seen in every bas-relief, writing down the various objects brought to them: the heads of the slain, the prisoners, cattle, sheep, &c.
28 seventh year--in
2Kgs 24:12,
2Kgs 24:14,
2Kgs 24:16, it is said "the eighth year" of Nebuchadnezzar. No doubt it was in part about the end of the seventh year, in part about the beginning of the eighth. Also in 2Ki. 24:1-20, ten thousand (
Jer 52:14), and seven thousand men of might, and a thousand craftsmen (
Jer 52:16), are said to have been carried away, But here three thousand twenty-three. Probably the latter three thousand twenty-three were of the tribe of Judah, the remaining seven thousand out of the ten thousand were of the other tribes, out of which many Israelites still had been left in the land. The a thousand "craftsmen" were exclusive of the ten thousand, as appears, by comparing
2Kgs 24:14 with
Jer 52:16. Probably the three thousand twenty-three of Judah were first removed in the end of "the seventh year"; the seven thousand and a thousand craftsmen in the "eighth year." This was at the first captivity under Jehoiachin.
29 eighteenth year--when Jerusalem was taken. But in
Jer 52:15, and
2Kgs 25:8, "the nineteenth year." Probably it was at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth [LYRA].
eight hundred and thirty and two--The most illustrious persons are meant, who no doubt were carried away first, at the end of the eighteenth year.
30 Not recorded in Kings or Chronicles. Probably it took place during the commotions that followed the death of Gedaliah (
Jer 41:18;
2Kgs 25:26).
four thousand and six hundred--The exact sum-total of the numbers specified here, namely, three thousand twenty-three, eight hundred thirty-two, seven hundred forty-five, not including the general multitude and the women and children (
Jer 52:15;
Jer 39:9;
2Kgs 25:11).
31 (
2Kgs 25:27-30).
five and twentieth day--but in
2Kgs 25:27, it is "the twenty-seventh day." Probably on the twenty-fifth the decree for his elevation was given, and the preparations for it made by releasing him from prison; and on the twenty-seventh day it was carried into effect.
Evil-merodach--son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar [LYRA]; and the Hebrew writers say that during Nebuchadnezzar's exclusion from men among beasts, Evil-merodach administered the government. When Nebuchadnezzar at the end of seven years was restored, hearing of his son's misconduct and that he had exulted in his father's calamity, he threw him into prison, where the latter met Jeconiah and contracted a friendship with him, whence arose the favor which subsequently he showed him. God, in his elevation, rewarded his having surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar (compare
Jer 38:17 with
2Kgs 24:12).
lifted up . . . head--(Compare
Gen 40:13,
Gen 40:20;
Ps 3:3;
Ps 27:6).
32 set his throne above--a mark of respect.
the kings--The Hebrew text reads (the other) kings." "The kings" is a Masoretic correction.
33 changed . . . garments--gave him garments suitable to a king.
did . . . eat bread before him-- (
2Sam 9:13).
34 every day a portion--rather, "its portion," (compare
1Kgs 8:59, Margin).
