1 In his days Nebuchadnezzar (= may prophet protect the crown. Or Nebuchadrezzar [Jer.25:1,2,7; 22:25], or Nebuchadonosor in Josephus and Berosus, Sept., and Vulg. This is the first occ. of his name in Scripture) king of Babylon came up (in the 4th year of Jehoiakim [Jer.25:1; 46:2]. Daniel says in 3rd year [1:1]; but he writes from Babylon, from which place Nebuchanezzar set out, and here [cp. Jer.46:2], it refers to the actual coming. The Babylonian Servitude begins here [496 to 426 B.C]), and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him.
2 And Yehovah sent against him marauding bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the sons of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of Yehovah, which He spoke through His servants the prophets.
3 Surely at the commandment of Yehovah came [this] upon Judah, to remove [them] out of His sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did;
4 And also for the innocent blood that he shed (put by fig. for murde, and the guilt of it): for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which Yehovah would not pardon.
5 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? (see 2 Chron.36:6-8)
6 So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers (only the fact referred to here. Not the manner of his death and burial, for which we see Jer.22:18,19; 36:29,30. It was as foretold. The expression "slept with his fathers" is used even of Ahab; and every king of Judah whose death is recorded is said also to have been buried, except Jehoiakim. See Deut.31:16): and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.
7 And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land:
for the king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt.
R7 J 8. Event. Internal. Accession. K 9. Personal character. J 10-17. Events. External. Supercession.
489 B.C.
8 Jehoiachin (= whom Yehovah has appointed. Called also Coniah and Jeconiah [Jer.22:24; 2:1]) [was] eighteen years old when he began to reign (this was his age. I 2 Chron.36:9 he is said to be 8. See note there. #18 = bondage), and he reigned in Jerusalem three months (is put by fig., for 3 months and 10 days. Cp. 2 Chron.36:9). And his mother's name [was] Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.
9 And he did [that which was] evil in the sight of Yehovah, according to all that his father had done.
J y 10,11. Nebuchadnezzar besieges Jerusalem. z 12-. Jehoiachin surrenders. z -12-16. Jehoiachin made captive. y 17. Nebuchadnezzar makes Mattaniah king.
10 At that time the servants of (some codices omit these words and read, "came up" ) Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.
11 And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants were besiegig it.
12 And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers (i.e. eunucks or chamberlains):
and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign (computed from the time that his father entrusted him with regal authority. This was the 4th year of Jehoiakim [Jer.25:1, cp.32:1]).
13 And he carried out from that place all the treasures of the house of Yehovah, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of Yehovah, according as Yehovah had said (cp. 20:17).
14 And he carried away all Jerusalem (this deportation was 11 years before that of Zedekiah [25:18]. Mordecai was in this deportation. See 2 Chron.36:6. The Captivity begun in 489 B.C.), and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, [even] ten thousand captives, and all the artificers and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the People of the land (cp. 23:6).
15 And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon (where he was captive for 37 years), and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land (princes and potentates, priests and prophets [Jer.29:1]. Among them Ezekiel [1:12], Daniel, and Nehemiah), [those] carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.
16 And all the men of might, [even] seven thousand, and artificers and armourers a thousand, all [that were] strong [and] apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.
17 And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah (= gift of Yehovah) his father's brother king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah (= justice of Yehovah).
R8 a 18. Accession. b 19. Personal. Evil-doing. a 20. Rebellion.
488 to 477 B.C.
18 Zedekiah [was] twenty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name [was] Hamutal (therefore only half-brother to Jehoiakim, but full brother to Jehoahaz), the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
19 And he did [that which was] evil in the sight of Yehovah (see 2 Chron.36:12-16. Jer.24:8; 37:2; 38:2,5), according to all that Jehoiakim had done.
20 For through the anger of Yehovah it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon (though bound by oath [2 Chron.36:13. Ezek.17:13).
C² L 1-21. Nebuchadnezzar and Zedekiah. M 22-25. Remnant. In the land. M 26. Remnant. Migration to Egypt. L 27-30. Evil-Merodach and Jehoiachin.
L N 1-. Date. Ninth of Zedekiah (Jer.39:1). O c -1,2. City besieged. d 3. Famine. c 4-. City broken up. d -4. Flight. P 5-7-. Executions at Riblah. Q -7. Carrying away of Zedekiah. N 8. Date. Nineteenth of Nebuchadnezzar. O e 9. Temple burned. f 10. City wall broken down. f 11,12. City. Inhabitants. Flight. e 13-17. Temple spoiled. P 18-21-. Executions at Riblah. Q -21. Carrying away of Judah.
1 And (note the fig. Polysyndeton in vv.1-7, to emphasise every detail) it came to pass (cp. 2 Chron.36:11-13 and Jer.52. The prophecy of Jer.39-44 is the Divine comment on the history) in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month (the day revealed to Ezekiel in exile [Ezek.24:1]. Cp. Jer.39:1),
that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and all his host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it; and they built forts against it round about.
2 And the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.
3 And on the ninth day of the fourth month (this numeral supplied from Jer.52:6) the famine prevailed in the city (the 9th recorded in Scripture. See Gen.12:10. Fulflling Lev.26:29. Deut.28:53-57. Jer.15:2; 27:13. Lam.2:20-22. Ezek.4:16. Sufferings described in Jer.21:7-9. Lam.4:9,10; 5:10, &c.), and there was no bread for the People of the land.
4 And the city was breached (Before this an Egyptian force approached and the Babylonians retired [Jer.37:5-11]. The relief was only temporary, as predicted.),
and all the men of war fled, and went forth by night by the way of the gate between the two walls (cp. Jer.39:4; 52:7), which is by the king's garden: {now the Chaldees were against the city round about:} and the king went the way toward the plain.
5 And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all his army were scattered from him.
6 So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah (= fertilty. See 23:33); and they (some codices read "he") passed sentence upon him (cp.24:20).
7 And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah (so that he did not "see" Babylon, though he was to die there [Ezek.12:13]. But he did "see" the king of Babylon, according to Jer.32:4; 34:3. See Gen.19:11), and bound him with fetters of brass,
and carried him to Babylon.
477 B.C.
8 And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month (Jer.52:12 says 10th day. He may have set fire to it on the 7th day, and it burnt until the 10th), which is the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan (= chief whom Nebo favors), chief of the royal executioners, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem:
9 And he burnt the house of Yehovah, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man's house burnt he with fire (see Prov.17:19).
10 And all the army of the Chaldees, that were with the chief of the royal executioners, broke down the walls of Jerusalem round about.
11 Now the rest of the People that were left in the city, and the fugitives that fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude, did Nebuzaradan the chief of the executioners carry away.
12 But the chief of the executioners left of the door of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen (cp. Jer.52:16).
13 And the pillars of brass that were in the house of Yehovah, and the bases, and the brasen sea that was in the house of Yehovah, did the Chaldees break in pieces, and carried the brass of them to Babylon.
14 And the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away.
15 And the firepans, and the bowls, and such things as were of gold, in gold, and of silver, in silver, the chief ofthe executioners took away.
16 The two pillars, one sea, and the bases which Solomon had made for the house of Yehovah; the brass of all these vessels was without weight.
17 The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits (see 1 Kings 7:15. Cubit = 19 inch [aprox.]), and the chapiter upon it was brass: and the height of the chapiter three cubits; and the network, and pomegranates upon the chapiter round about, all of brass: and like unto these had the second pillar with network.
18 And the chief of the executioners took Seraiah (= Yah has prevailed. The grandfather or great-grandfather of Ezra [1 Chron.6:14. Ezra 7:1]) the chief priest (see Lev.4:3), and Zephaniah (= hidden by Yehovah) the second priest (see 23:4. Probably a deputy high priest. No provision for such in the Law), and the three keepers of the threshold:
19 And out of the city he took an officer that was set over the men of war, and five men of them that were in the king's presence (Heb. saw the king's face), which were found in the city, and the scribe of the captain of the host, which mustered the People of the land, and sixty men of the People of the land that were found in the city:
20 And Nebuzaradan chief of the royal executioners took these, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah:
21 And the king of Babylon smote them, and slew them at Riblah in the land of Hamath.
So Judah was carried away out of his land (thus ended the kingdom of Judah, as Jeremiah had predicted [Jer.20:4]).
M g 22. Governor. Gedaliah. h 23. Ishmael. Visit of. g 24. Governor's reception. h 25. Ishmael. Murders by.22 And as for the people that remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah (= God is my greatness) the son of Ahikam (= a brother who raises up. He had befriended Jeremiah [Jer.26:24]), the son of Shaphan, ruler.
23 And when all the captains of the armies (for a fuller acount see Jer.40:7-43:13), they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, there came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah (= whom God hears. He was of the royal seed [v.25], and laid claim to the thron. Cp. Jer.40:8; 41:1-18. Josephus, Ant. X. 9. 2.), and Johanan the son of Careah (= gift or grace of God. Who, with others, warned Gedaliah of Ismael's treachery [Jer.40:13; 41:15]), and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah (= whom Yehovah hears) the son of a Maachathite, they and their men.
24 And Gedaliah swore to them, and to their men, and said to them, “Fear not to be the servants of the Chaldees: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon; and it shall be well with you” (so God designed it [Jer.27:5,6,11) .
25 But it came to pass in the seventh month (afterward observed as a fast. Cp. Zech.7:5), that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah (instigated by Baalis, king of Ammon [Jer.40:7-43:13]), that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him at Mizpah.
489-452 B.C.
26 And all the People, both small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose, and came to Egypt (in defiance of the counsel of Jeremiah [whom they took with them]. See Jer.42 and 43:8-13, who foretold that Egypt would also be given to the king of Babylon [Jer.44:29,30]): for they were afraid of the Chaldees.
27 And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evil-merodach (= the fool of death. The son and succesor of Nebuchadnezzar) king of Babylon in the year that he began to reign did lift up the head (Heb. idiom = show favour to) of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison (some codces read, "and brought him forth out of his prison". Cp. Jer.52:31);
28 And he spoke good words to him, and set his throne (= seat [Prov.9:14]. Cp. Lam.1:1) above the seat of the kings that were with him in Babylon;
29 And changed his prison garments: and he did eat bread continually before him all the days of his life (he was a guest at the royal table. Cp. 2 Sam.19:23. 1 Kings 2:7).
30 And his allowance was a continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life. (This chapter, compared with the last chapter of Jeremiah, points to hs authorship. The [one] Book of Kings brings the history of Israel and Judah down to the Captivity, and ends there. See the Structure. The [one] Book of Chronicles begins from Adam, and leads on from the Captivity to the Book Ezra-Nehemiah)