Bible Commentaries

And it came to pass in the ^a ninth year of his reign, in the ^b tenth month, in the tenth [day] of the month, [that] Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and all his host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it; and they built forts against it round about.

(a) That is, of Zedekiah.

(b) Which the Hebrews call Teber, and it contains part of December and part of January.

And on the ninth [day] of the [fourth] month the famine ^c prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.

(c) So much that the mothers ate their children, (Lamentations 4:10).

And the city was broken up, and all the men of war [fled] by night by the way of the ^d gate between two walls, which [is] by the king's garden: (now the Chaldees [were] against the city round about:) and [the king] went the way toward the plain.

(d) Which was a back door, or some secret gate to leave by.

So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they ^e gave judgment upon him.

(e) Or, condemned him for his perjury and treason, (2 Chronicles 36:13).

And in the fifth month, on the ^f seventh [day] of the month, which [is] the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem:

(f) Jeremiah writes in (Jeremiah 52:12) the tenth day, because the fire continued from the seventh day to the tenth.

Now the rest of the people [that were] left in the city, and the fugitives that ^g fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude, did Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carry away.

(g) While the siege endured.

And the ^h pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away.

(h) Of these read (Exodus 27:3).

And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the ⁱ second priest, and the three keepers of the door:

(i) That is, one appointed to act in the place of the high priest, if he were sick or otherwise detained.

And out of the city he took an officer that was set over the men of war, and ^k five men of them that were in the king's presence, which were found in the city, and the principal scribe of the host, which mustered the people of the land, and threescore men of the people of the land [that were] found in the city:

(k) Jeremiah makes mention of seven but here he speaks of those who were the chiefest.

And Gedaliah ^l sware to them, and to their men, and said unto them, Fear not to be the servants of the Chaldees: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon; and it shall be well with you.

(l) That is, he exhorted them in the Name of the Lord, according to Jeremiah's counsel, to submit themselves to Nebuchadnezzar, seeing it was the revealed will of the Lord.

And all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose, and came to ^m Egypt: for they were afraid of the Chaldees.

(m) Contrary to Jeremiah's counsel in Jeremiah 40-42.

And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of ⁿ Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth [day] of the month, [that] Evilmerodach king of Babylon in the year that he began to reign did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison;

(n) This long were he, his wife and his children in Babylon, whom Nebuchadnezzar's son after his father's death preferred to honour: thus by God's providence the seed of David was preserved even to Christ.

And his ^o allowance [was] a continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life.

(o) Meaning, that he had standing in the court.