Jeremiah 52:1-6

1 Zedekiah was a son of one and twenty years (Zedekiah was twenty-one years old), when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and the name of his mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremy of Libnah.

2 And he did evils before the eyes of the Lord, by all things which Jehoiakim had done. (And he did evil things before the Lord, like all the things that Jehoiakim had done.)

3 For the strong vengeance of the Lord was in Jerusalem, and in Judah, till he casted them away from his face. And Zedekiah went away from the king of Babylon. (And so the strong vengeance of the Lord was toward Jerusalem, and toward Judah, until he threw them away from his face. And then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.)

4 Forsooth it was done in the ninth year of his realm, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, came, he and all his host, against Jerusalem; and they besieged it, and builded against it strongholds in compass. (And it was done in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem; and they besieged it, and built strongholds all around it.)

5 And the city was besieged, till to the eleventh year of the realm of Zedekiah. (And the city was besieged, until the eleventh year of Zedekiah's reign.)

6 Forsooth in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, hunger held the city; and foods were not to the people of the land. (And by the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, hunger held the city, and there was no food for the people of the land.)

Jeremiah 52:1-6 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 52

This chapter contains the history of the besieging, taking, and destroying of Jerusalem; the moving cause of it, the wicked reign of Zedekiah, Jer 52:1-3; the instruments of it, the king of Babylon and his army, which besieged and took it, Jer 52:4-7; into whose hands the king of Judah, his sons, and the princes of Judah, fell; and were very barbarously and cruelly used by them, Jer 52:8-11. Then follows an account of the burning of the temple, the king's palace, and the houses in Jerusalem, and the breaking down of the walls of it, Jer 52:12-14; and of those that were carried captive, and of those that were left in the land by Nebuzaradan, Jer 52:15,16; and of the several vessels and valuable things in the temple, of gold, silver, and brass, it was plundered of, and carried to Babylon, Jer 52:17-23; and of the murder of several persons of dignity and character, Jer 52:24-27; and of the number of those that were carried captive at three different times, Jer 52:28-30; and the chapter is concluded with the exaltation of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and of the good treatment he met with from the king of Babylon to the day of his death, Jer 52:31-34.