Jeremiah 52 - Prayer Tents

52Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah.H6667H259H6242H8141H1121H4427H4427H259H6240H8141H3389H517H8034H2537H1323H3414H3841 2But Zedekiah did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, just as Jehoiakim had done.H6213H7451H5869H3068H3079H6213 3These things happened because of the Lord’s anger against the people of Jerusalem and Judah, until he finally banished them from his presence and sent them into exile. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.H5921H639H3068H3389H3063H7993H6440H6667H4775H4428H894 4So on January 15, during the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon led his entire army against Jerusalem. They surrounded the city and built siege ramps against its walls.H8671H8141H4427H6224H2320H6218H2320H5019H4428H894H935H2428H3389H2583H1129H1785H5439 5Jerusalem was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah’s reign.H935H5892H4692H6249H6240H8141H4428H6667 6By July 18 in the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s reign, the famine in the city had become very severe, and the last of the food was entirely gone.H7243H2320H8672H2320H7458H2388H5892H3899H5971H776 7Then a section of the city wall was broken down, and all the soldiers fled. Since the city was surrounded by the Babylonians, they waited for nightfall. Then they slipped through the gate between the two walls behind the king’s garden and headed toward the Jordan Valley.H5892H1234H582H4421H1272H3318H5892H3915H1870H8179H2346H4428H1588H3778H5892H5439H3212H1870H6160 8But the Babylonian troops chased King Zedekiah and caught him on the plains of Jericho, for his men had all deserted him and scattered.H2428H3778H7291H310H4428H5381H6667H6160H3405H2428H6327 9They took him to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath. There the king of Babylon pronounced judgment upon Zedekiah.H8610H4428H5927H4428H894H7247H776H2574H1696H4941 10He made Zedekiah watch as they slaughtered his sons and all the other officials of Judah.H4428H894H7819H1121H6667H5869H7819H8269H3063H7247 11Then they gouged out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him in bronze chains, and led him away to Babylon. Zedekiah remained there in prison until the day of his death.H5786H5869H6667H4428H894H631H5178H935H894H5414H1004H6486H3117H4194 12On August 17 of that year, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard and an official of the Babylonian king, arrived in Jerusalem.H2549H2320H6218H2320H8672H6240H8141H8141H5019H4428H894H935H5018H7227H2876H5975H6440H4428H894H3389 13He burned down the Temple of the Lord, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He destroyed all the important buildings in the city.H8313H1004H3068H4428H1004H1004H3389H1004H1419H8313H784 14Then he supervised the entire Babylonian army as they tore down the walls of Jerusalem on every side.H2428H3778H7227H2876H5422H2346H3389H5439 15Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, then took as exiles some of the poorest of the people, the rest of the people who remained in the city, the defectors who had declared their allegiance to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen.H5018H7227H2876H1540H1803H5971H3499H5971H7604H5892H5307H5307H4428H894H3499H527 16But Nebuzaradan allowed some of the poorest people to stay behind in Judah to care for the vineyards and fields.H5018H7227H2876H7604H1803H776H3755H3009 17The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars in front of the Lord’s Temple, the bronze water carts, and the great bronze basin called the Sea, and they carried all the bronze away to Babylon.H5982H5178H1004H3068H4350H5178H3220H1004H3068H3778H7665H5375H5178H894 18They also took all the ash buckets, shovels, lamp snuffers, basins, dishes, and all the other bronze articles used for making sacrifices at the Temple.H5518H3257H4212H4219H3709H3627H5178H8334H3947 19Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, also took the small bowls, incense burners, basins, pots, lampstands, dishes, bowls used for liquid offerings, and all the other articles made of pure gold or silver.H5592H4289H4219H5518H4501H3709H4518H2091H2091H3701H3701H3947H7227H2876H3947 20The weight of the bronze from the two pillars, the Sea with the twelve bronze oxen beneath it, and the water carts was too great to be measured. These things had been made for the Lord’s Temple in the days of King Solomon.H8147H5982H259H3220H8147H6240H5178H1241H4350H4428H8010H6213H1004H3068H5178H3627H4948 21Each of the pillars was 27 feet tall and 18 feet in circumference. They were hollow, with walls 3 inches thick.H5982H6967H259H5982H8083H6240H520H2339H8147H6240H520H5437H5672H702H676H5014 22The bronze capital on top of each pillar was 7 1/2 feet high and was decorated with a network of bronze pomegranates all the way around.H3805H5178H6967H259H3805H2568H520H7639H7416H3805H5439H5178H8145H5982H7416 23There were 96 pomegranates on the sides, and a total of 100 on the network around the top.H8673H8337H7416H7307H7416H7639H3967H5439 24Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took with him as prisoners Seraiah the high priest, Zephaniah the priest of the second rank, and the three chief gatekeepers.H7227H2876H3947H8304H7218H3548H6846H4932H3548H7969H8104H5592 25And from among the people still hiding in the city, he took an officer who had been in charge of the Judean army; seven of the king’s personal advisers; the army commander’s chief secretary, who was in charge of recruitment; and sixty other citizens.H3947H5892H259H5631H6496H582H4421H7651H582H7200H4428H6440H4672H5892H8269H5608H6635H6633H5971H776H8346H376H5971H776H4672H8432H5892 26Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took them all to the king of Babylon at Riblah.H5018H7227H2876H3947H3212H4428H894H7247 27And there at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon had them all put to death. So the people of Judah were sent into exile from their land.H4428H894H5221H4191H7247H127H2574H3063H1540H776 28The number of captives taken to Babylon in the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign was 3,023.H5971H5019H1540H7651H8141H7969H505H3064H7969H6242 29Then in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year he took 832 more.H8083H6240H8141H5019H1540H3389H8083H3967H7970H8147H5315 30In Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year he sent Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, who took 745 more—a total of 4,600 captives in all.H7969H6242H8141H5019H5018H7227H2876H1540H3064H7651H3967H705H2568H5315H5315H702H505H8337H3967 31In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, Evil-merodach ascended to the Babylonian throne. He was kind to Jehoiachin and released him from prison on March 31 of that year.H7651H7970H8141H1546H3078H4428H3063H8147H6240H2320H2568H6242H2320H192H4428H894H8141H4438H5375H7218H3078H4428H3063H3318H1004H3628 32He spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and gave him a higher place than all the other exiled kings in Babylon.H1696H2896H5414H3678H4605H3678H4428H894 33He supplied Jehoiachin with new clothes to replace his prison garb and allowed him to dine in the king’s presence for the rest of his life.H8138H3608H899H8548H398H3899H6440H3117H2416 34So the Babylonian king gave him a regular food allowance as long as he lived. This continued until the day of his death.H737H8548H737H5414H4428H894H3117H3117H1697H3117H4194H3117H2416