Study Desk

Jeremiah wrote on a single scroll all the disaster which would come against Babylon, that is, all these words which have been written concerning Babylon.

Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, "As soon as you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud,

and say, 'Just so shall Babylon sink down and not rise again, because of the disaster that I am going to bring upon her; and they will become exhausted.'" To this point are the words of Jeremiah.

For because of the anger of the LORD this came about in Jerusalem and Judah, until He drove them out from His presence. And Zedekiah revolted against the king of Babylon.

Now it came about in the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, camped against it, and built a bulwark all around it.

Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him.

And the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also slaughtered all the commanders of Judah in Riblah.

Then he blinded the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him with bronze shackles and brought him to Babylon and put him in prison until the day of his death.

Now on the tenth day of the fifth month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, who was in the service of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.

Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took into exile some of the poorest of the people, the rest of the people who were left in the city, the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen.

Now the bronze pillars which belonged to the house of the LORD and the stands and the bronze sea, which were in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans smashed to pieces and carried all their bronze to Babylon.

Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguards took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

Then the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death in Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was led into exile from its land.

Now it came about in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, showed favor to Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison.

Then he spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon.

And as his allowance, a regular allowance was given to him by the king of Babylon, a portion for each day, all the days of his life until the day of his death.

"I will also spread My net over him, and he will be caught in My net. And I will bring him to Babylon in the land of the Chaldeans; yet he will not see it, though he will die there.

"Say now to the rebellious house, 'Do you not know what these things mean?' Say, 'Behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, took its king and leaders, and brought them to him in Babylon.

'As I live,' declares the Lord GOD, 'In the country of the king who put him on the throne, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke, in Babylon he shall certainly die.

"And I will spread My net over him, and he will be caught in My net. Then I will bring him to Babylon and enter into judgment with him there regarding the unfaithful act which he has committed against Me.