Jeremiah 52:12-16

B. The Destruction of Jerusalem Jeremiah 52:12-16

TRANSLATION

(12) In the tenth day of the fifth month of the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. (13) And he burned the house of the LORD and the house of the king; and all the houses of Jerusalem and every great house he burnt with fire. (14) And all the army of the Chaldeans that were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls of Jerusalem round about. (15) Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive some of the poor people, the rest of the people who were left in the city, and the deserters who had gone over to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude. (16) But Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, left some of the poor of the land as vinedressers and laborers.

COMMENTS

The account of the destruction of Jerusalem, already summarized in Jeremiah 39:8-10, is almost identical with 2 Kings 25:8-17. After the city of Jerusalem fell to the Chaldeans the soldiers awaited further instructions concerning the fate of the city. A month after the successful breaching of the walls, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard[426] arrived from Riblah with the orders of Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 52:12). The English text of Kings and Jeremiah seems to present a contradiction as to the date that Nebuzaradan arrived at Jerusalem. According to the former account he arrived on the seventh day of the month while in the present narrative it is the tenth day of the month (cf. 2 Kings 25:8). The simpliest solution is that Nebuzaradan arrived at Jerusalem on the seventh day and for some unexplained reason did not enter Jerusalem until the tenth day of the month.[427] Nebuzaradan's orders were to destroy Jerusalem and prepare its inhabitants for deportation to Babylon. The entire city including the Temple area was put to the torch (Jeremiah 52:13) and the walls were razed (Jeremiah 52:14). Both Psalms (Psalms 74:6-7) and Lamentations (Jeremiah 2:7-9) provide vivid poetic descriptions of this destruction. Those who had deserted to the Chaldeans during the siege, and the rest of the multitude (i.e., the country people)[428] were prepared for the long trip to Babylon (Jeremiah 52:15). Only the very poorest people were left in the land to serve as vinedressers and husbandmen (Jeremiah 52:16).

[426] On the title of Nebuzaradan see note on Jeremiah 39:9.

[427] In the Hebrew the word Jerusalem has no preposition attached to it in 2 Kings 25:8 but has the preposition beth in Jeremiah 62:12.

[428] Some prefer to translate the Hebrew word as artisans. In the light of the parallel passage 2 Kings 25:11 multitude is the best translation