Jeremiah 52:7

7 Then 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.

Jeremiah 52:7 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 52:7

Then the city was broken up
Either its gates were broke open, some one or other of them; or a breach was made in the walls of it, through which the Chaldean army entered: and all the men of war fled;
the soldiers, with their officers, not being able to stand before the army of the king of Babylon: and went forth out of the city by night;
at which time, very probably, the attack was made, and the gates of the city forced open, or the walls broke down; Josephus ^F16 says it was taken in the middle of the night: by the way of the gate between the two walls, which [was] by the king's
garden; (See Gill on Jeremiah 39:4); now the Chaldeans [were] by the city round about;
as part of their army entered into it, the other part surrounded it; or, however, were placed at the gates and avenues all around, that none might escape: and they went by the way of the plain;
that is, the men of war or soldiers that fled, together with King Zedekiah, his family and princes; see ( Jeremiah 39:4 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 Antiqu. l. 10. c. 8. sect. 2. Ed. Hudson.

Jeremiah 52:7 In-Context

5 Jerusalem was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah’s reign.

6 By 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.

7 Then 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.

8 But the Babylonian troops chased King Zedekiah and overtook him on the plains of Jericho, for his men had all deserted him and scattered.

9 They captured the king and took him to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath. There the king of Babylon pronounced judgment upon Zedekiah.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or the Chaldeans; similarly in 52:8, 17 .
• [b]. Hebrew the Arabah.