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Babylon Will Be Destroyed

The Lord said:

54 Listen to the cries for help
    coming from Babylon.
Everywhere in the country
the sounds of destruction
    can be heard.
55 The shouts of the enemy,
    like crashing ocean waves,
will drown out Babylon's cries
    as I level the city.

56 An enemy will attack
    and destroy Babylon.
Its soldiers will be captured
    and their weapons broken,
because I am a God
who takes revenge against nations
    for what they do.
57 I, the Lord All-Powerful,
    the true King, promise
that the officials and advisors,
the governors and leaders,
    and the soldiers of Babylon
will get drunk, fall asleep,
    and never wake up.
58 The thick walls of that city
will be torn down,
    and its huge gates burned.
Everything that nation
worked so hard to gain
    will go up in smoke.

Jeremiah Gives Seraiah a Scroll

59 During Zedekiah's[a] fourth year as king of Judah, he went to Babylon. And Baruch's brother Seraiah[b] went along as the officer in charge of arranging for places to stay overnight.[c]

60 Before they left, I wrote on a scroll[d] all the terrible things that would happen to Babylon. 61 I gave the scroll to Seraiah and said:

When you get to Babylon, read this scroll aloud, 62 then pray, “Our Lord, you promised to destroy this place and make it into a desert where no people or animals will ever live.”

63 (A) When you finish praying, tie the scroll to a rock and throw it in the Euphrates River. Then say, 64 “This is how Babylon will sink when the Lord destroys it. Everyone in the city will die, and it won't have the strength to rise again.”

The End of Jeremiah's Writing

Jeremiah's writing ends here.

Jerusalem Is Captured

(2 Kings 24.18—25.30; 2 Chronicles 36.11-21)

52 Zedekiah was 21 years old when he was appointed king of Judah,[e] and he ruled from Jerusalem for eleven years.[f] His mother Hamutal was the daughter of Jeremiah from the town of Libnah.[g] Zedekiah disobeyed the Lord, just as Jehoiakim had done, and it was Zedekiah who finally rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar.[h]

The people of Judah and Jerusalem had made the Lord so angry that he finally turned his back on them. That's why horrible things were happening there.

(B) In Zedekiah's ninth year as king, on the tenth day of the tenth month,[i] King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia led his entire army to attack Jerusalem. The troops set up camp outside the city and built ramps up to the city walls.

5-6 After a year and a half,[j] all the food in Jerusalem was gone. Then on the ninth day of the fourth month,[k] (C) the Babylonian troops broke through the city wall. That same night, Zedekiah and his soldiers tried to escape through the gate near the royal garden, even though they knew the enemy had the city surrounded. They headed toward the Jordan River valley, but the Babylonian troops caught up with them near Jericho. The Babylonians arrested Zedekiah, but his soldiers scattered in every direction. Zedekiah was taken to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where Nebuchadnezzar put him on trial and found him guilty. 10 Zedekiah's sons and the officials of Judah were killed while he watched, 11 (D) then his eyes were poked out. He was put in chains, then dragged off to Babylon and kept in prison until he died.

12 Jerusalem was captured during Nebuchadnezzar's nineteenth year as king of Babylonia.

About a month later,[l] Nebuchadnezzar's officer in charge of the guards arrived in Jerusalem. His name was Nebuzaradan, 13 (E) and he burned down the Lord's temple, the king's palace, and every important building in the city, as well as all the houses. 14 Then he ordered the Babylonian soldiers to break down the walls around Jerusalem. 15 He led away the people left in the city, including everyone who had become loyal to Nebuchadnezzar, the rest of the skilled workers,[m] and even some of the poor people of Judah. 16 Only the very poorest were left behind to work the vineyards and the fields.

17-20 (F) Nebuzaradan ordered his soldiers to go to the temple and take everything made of gold or silver, including bowls, fire pans, sprinkling bowls, pans, lampstands, dishes for incense, and the cups for wine offerings. The Babylonian soldiers took all the bronze things used for worship at the temple, including the pans for hot ashes, and the shovels, lamp snuffers, sprinkling bowls, and dishes for incense. The soldiers also took everything else made of bronze, including the two columns that stood in front of the temple, the large bowl called the Sea, the twelve bulls that held it up, and the movable stands.[n] The soldiers broke these things into pieces so they could take them to Babylonia. There was so much bronze that it could not be weighed. 21 For example, the columns were about 8 meters high and 5.5 meters around. They were hollow, but the bronze was about 75 millimeters thick. 22 Each column had a bronze cap over 2 meters high that was decorated with bronze designs. Some of these designs were like chains and others were like pomegranates.[o] 23 There were 96 pomegranates evenly spaced[p] around each column, and a total of 100 pomegranates were located above the chains.

24 Next, Nebuzaradan arrested Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah his assistant, and three temple officials. 25 Then he arrested one of the army commanders, seven of King Zedekiah's personal advisors, and the officer in charge of gathering the troops for battle. He also found 60 more soldiers who were still in Jerusalem. 26-27 Nebuzaradan led them to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where Nebuchadnezzar had them killed.

The people of Judah no longer lived in their own country.

People of Judah Taken Prisoner

28-30 Here is a list of the number of the people of Judah that Nebuchadnezzar[q] took to Babylonia as prisoners:

In his seventh year as king, he took 3,023 people.

In his eighteenth year as king, he took 832 from Jerusalem.

In his twenty-third year as king, his officer Nebuzaradan took 745 people.

So, Nebuchadnezzar took a total of 4,600 people from Judah to Babylonia.

Jehoiachin Is Set Free

(2 Kings 25.27-30)

31 Jehoiachin was a prisoner in Babylon for 37 years. Then Evil Merodach[r] became king of Babylonia, and in the first year of his rule, on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month,[s] he let Jehoiachin out of prison. 32 Evil Merodach was kind to Jehoiachin and honored him more than any of the other kings held prisoner there. 33 Jehoiachin was allowed to wear regular clothes instead of a prison uniform, and he even ate at the king's table every day. 34 As long as Jehoiachin lived, he was paid a daily allowance to buy whatever he needed.

Footnotes

  1. 51.59 Zedekiah's: See the note at 1.3.
  2. 51.59 Baruch's brother Seraiah: Hebrew “Seraiah son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah”; Baruch helped Jeremiah write down his messages (see 32.12; 36.4-10).
  3. 51.59 arranging for places to stay overnight: Hebrew and one ancient translation; two ancient translations, “the tax money.”
  4. 51.60 scroll: See the note at 30.1,2.
  5. 52.1 appointed king of Judah: By Nebuchadnezzar (see 37.1).
  6. 52.1 he ruled … years: Ruled 598–586 b.c.
  7. 52.1 Jeremiah from the town of Libnah: Not the same Jeremiah as the author of this book (see 1.1).
  8. 52.3 Nebuchadnezzar: See the note at 21.2.
  9. 52.4 tenth month: See the note at 39.1-3.
  10. 52.5,6 After a year and a half: Jerusalem was captured in 586 b.c.
  11. 52.5,6 fourth month: See the note at 39.1-3.
  12. 52.12 About a month later: Hebrew “On the seventh day of the fifth month.”
  13. 52.15 the rest of the skilled workers: Nebuchadnezzar had taken away some of the skilled workers eleven years before (see 2 Kings 24.14-16).
  14. 52.17-20 the large bowl called the Sea, the twelve bulls that held it up, and the movable stands: One ancient translation; Hebrew “the large bowl called the Sea, and the twelve bulls under the movable stands.”
  15. 52.22 pomegranates: A small red fruit that looks like an apple.
  16. 52.23 evenly spaced: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  17. 52.28-30 Nebuchadnezzar: See the note at 21.2.
  18. 52.31 Evil Merodach: The son of Nebuchadnezzar who ruled Babylonia from 562–560 b.c.
  19. 52.31 twelfth month: Adar, the twelfth month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-February to mid-March.

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