And they shall sleep an everlasting sleep, 58 Thus saith JEHOVAH of hosts, 59 The wall of Babylon, the broad one, shall be utterly razed, And her gates, the lofty ones, shall be burned with fire; And peoples shall labour to the utmost extent of annihilation, And nation's with all the power of fire, until they be weary. THE WORD which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went on the behalf of Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year 60 of his reign; for Seraiah carried a present. And Jeremiah wrote all the evil that was to come upon Babylon in one book, all these words that are 61 written concerning Babylon. And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, then thou shalt see, and read all these words: and thou 62 shalt say, O JEHOVAH, thou hast spoken concerning this place, of cutting it off, so that there shall not be in it an inhabitant, either man or beast; but there shall be perpetual desolation. 63 And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, thou shalt bind a stone to it, and shalt cast into the middle of Euphrates: and thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and not rise again, because of the evil which I bring upon her. THUS FAR THE WORDS OF JEREMIAH. CHAP. LII. ZEDEKIAH was twenty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Hami2 tal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. And he did that which was evil in the sight of JEHOVAH, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. 3 For it was so because of the anger of JEHOVAH against Judah and Jerusalem, until he had cast them out of his sight. Zedekiah also rebelled against the king of Babylon. 4 7 And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth [day] of the month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his forces, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it, and built forts against 5 it round about. And the city was besieged until 6 the eleventh year of Zedekiah's reign, in the fourth month, the ninth [day] of the month; when the famine was sore in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land. And the city was broken into; and all the men of war fled, and went out of the city by night, by the way of the gate between the two walls, which is by the king's garden; (whilst the Chaldeans were before the city round about;) and they 8 went toward the plain. But the forces of Chaldea pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his 9 troops were scattered from him. And they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath; and he 10 proceeded judicially against him. And the king · 11 12 of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; and he slew also the princes of Judah in Riblah. And he put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass; and the king of Babylon carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death. And in the fifth month, on the tenth [day] of the month, (it was the nineteenth year of the reign of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon) came Nebuzaradan captain of the guards, one that stood in the presence of the king of Babylon, to 13 Jerusalem. And he burned the house of JEнOVAH, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, burned he 14 with fire. And all the army of the Chaldeans, that was with the captain of the guards, brake down all the walls of Jerusalem round about. 15 And some of the poor of the people, and the rest of the people that were left in the city, and the deserters that had gone over to the king of Babylon, even the remains of the multitude, did Nebuzaradan captain of the guards carry 16 away captive. But some of the poor of the land did Nebuzaradan captain of the guards leave for 17 vinedressers and for husbandmen. And the pillars of brass that were in the house of JEHOVAH, and the bases, and the brasen sea that was in the house of JEHOVAH, the Chaldeans brake, and 18 carried all the brass of them to Babylon. The chaldrons also, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass, which they used in ministering, 19 did they take away. And the basons, and the censers, and the bowls, and the chaldrons, and the candlesticks, and the spoons, and the cups, whatsoever was of gold, the gold, and whatsoever was of silver, the silver, did the captain of 20 the guards take away. The two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve brasen oxen that were underneath, the bases which king Solomon had made for the house of JEHOVAH, the brass from all 21 these vesels was without weight. For the pillars, eighteen cubits in height was the one pillar, and a line of twelve cubits measured it round; and the thickness of it was four fingers, being hollow. 09 And the chapiter upon it was of brass; and the height of the one chapiter was five cubits; and there was wreathen work, and pomegranates upon the chapiter all round, the whole of brass; and in like manner the other pillar had also po23 megranates. And the pomegranates were ninety and six toward every wind: all the pomegranates an hundred upon the wreathen work round 24 about. And the captain of the guards took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the door ; and out of the city he took an eunuch, who had the charge over the men of war, and seven men of those 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 threescore men of the people of the land, who were found in the midst of the city; 26 even Nebuzaradan captain of the guards took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon 27 at Riblah. And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death in Riblah in the land of Hamath; and carried Judah away captive out of their own land. 25 28 This is the people, whom Nebuchadrezzar car ried away captive in the seventh year, three 29 thousand and twenty three Jews. In the eigh teench year of Nebuchadrezzar, he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred and thirty 30 two persons. In the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadrezzar, Nebuzaradan captain of the guards carried away captive Jews, seven hundred forty and five persons. All the persons were four thousand and six hundred. 31 And it came to pass in the thirty and seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty fifth day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon in the first year of his reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison, and spake graciously unto him, 32 and set his seat above the seat of the kings 33 that were with him in Babylon; so that he changed his prison garments, and did eat bread before him continually all the days of his life. $4 And his allowance, a constant allowance, was given him by the king of Babylon's order, at a certain rate every day, until the day of his death, all the days of his life. |