Add parallel Print Page Options

When Zedekiah, king of Judah, and all his warriors saw this, they fled, leaving the city at night by way of the king’s garden,[a] through a gate between the two walls. He went in the direction of the Arabah,(A) but the Chaldean army pursued them; they caught up with Zedekiah in the wilderness near Jericho and took him prisoner. They brought him to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in Riblah,[b] in the land of Hamath, and he pronounced sentence upon him.(B) The king of Babylon executed the sons of Zedekiah at Riblah before his very eyes; the king of Babylon also executed all the nobles of Judah.(C)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 39:4 By way of the king’s garden: along the southeast side of the city; the royal garden was in the Kidron Valley. A gate between the two walls: the southernmost city gate, at the end of the Tyropoeon Valley. The Arabah: the southern Jordan Valley. Zedekiah was perhaps trying to escape across the Jordan when he was captured near Jericho.
  2. 39:5 Riblah: Nebuchadnezzar’s headquarters north of Damascus; Pharaoh Neco had once used the town as a military post (2 Kgs 23:33).

When Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled; they left the city at night by way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the two walls,(A) and headed toward the Arabah.[a](B)

But the Babylonian[b] army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah(C) in the plains of Jericho. They captured(D) him and took him to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at Riblah(E) in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced sentence on him. There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and also killed all the nobles(F) of Judah.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 39:4 Or the Jordan Valley
  2. Jeremiah 39:5 Or Chaldean