Bible Commentaries
Jeremiah 52

Verse 3

52:3 {a} For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

(a) So the Lord punished sin by sin and gave him up to his rebellious heart, till he had brought the enemy on him to lead him away and his people.

Verse 7

52:7 Then the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled, and went forth from the city by night by the {b} way of the gate between the two walls, which [was] by the king’s garden; (now the Chaldeans [were] by the city on all sides:) and they went by the way of the plain.

(b) Read Jeremiah 39:4 .

Verse 9

52:9 Then they took the king, and carried him to the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; {c} where he gave judgment upon him.

(c) Read 2 Kings 25:6, Jeremiah 39:5 .

Verse 12

52:12 Now in the fifth month, in the {d} tenth [day] of the month, which [was] the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, [who] {e} served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem,

(d) In 2 Kings 25:8 is it called the seventh day, because the fire began then and so continued to the tenth.

(e) That is, who was his servant, as in 2 Kings 25:8 .

Verse 17

52:17 Also the {f} pillars of brass that [were] in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brasen sea that [was] in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans broke, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon.

(f) Of these pillars read 1 Kings 7:15 .

Verse 18

52:18 The caldrons also, and the {g} shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass with which they ministered, they took away.

(g) Which were also made of brass, as in 1 Kings 7:45 .

Verse 20

52:20 The two pillars, one sea, and twelve brasen bulls that [were] under the bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the LORD: the brass of all these vessels was without {h} weight.

(h) It was so much in quantity.

Verse 23

52:23 And there were ninety and six pomegranates on a side; [and] all the pomegranates upon the network [were] an {i} hundred on all sides.

(i) But because of the roundness, no more could be seen but ninety-six.

Verse 24

52:24 And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah {k} the second priest, and the three keepers of the door:

(k) Which served in the high priests stead, if he had any necessary impediment.

Verse 25

52:25 He took also out of the city an eunuch, who had the charge of the men of war; and {l} seven men of them that were near the king’s person, who were found in the city; and the principal scribe of the host, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, that were found in the midst of the city.

(l) In 2 Kings 25:19 is read but of five: those were the most excellent and the other two, which were not so noble are not there mentioned with them.

Verse 28

52:28 This [is] the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the {m} seventh year three thousand Jews and three and twenty:

(m) Which was the latter end of the seventh year of his reign and the beginning of the eighth.

Verse 29

52:29 In the {n} eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty and two persons:

(n) To the latter end also of that year, and the beginning of the nineteenth.

Verse 31

52:31 And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and twentieth [day] of the month, [that] Evilmerodach king of Babylon in the [first] year of his reign {o} lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him out of prison,

(o) That is, restored him to liberty and honour.

Verse 33

52:33 And changed his prison {p} garments: and he continually ate bread before him all the days of his life.

(p) And gave him princely apparel.

Verse 34

52:34 And [for] his food, there was a {q} continual diet given him of the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.

(q) That is he had allowance in the court, and thus at length he had rest and quietness because he obeyed Jeremiah the Prophet, while the others were cruelly ordered that would not obey him.