Jeremiah 39

¹ In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month[*a], Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with his whole army to attack Jerusalem and besieged it.

² In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month[*b], a breach was made in the city wall.

³ …all the officers of the king of Babylon marched in and took up their quarters at the Middle Gate: Nergal-sharezer, prince of Sin-magir, the chief officer, Nebushazban, the high official, and all the other officers of the king of Babylon…

⁴ Seeing this, Zedekiah king of Judah fled under cover of dark, with all the fighting men, leaving the city by way of the king’s garden through the gate between the two walls, and making their way towards the Arabah.[*c]

⁵ The Chaldaean troops pursued them and caught up with Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. They captured him and took him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, who passed sentence on him.

⁶ The king of Babylon had the sons of Zedekiah slaughtered before his eyes at Riblah; the king of Babylon also had all the leading men of Judah put to death.

⁷ He then put out Zedekiah’s eyes and, loading him with chains, carried him off to Babylon.

⁸ The Chaldaeans burnt down the royal palace and the private houses, and demolished the walls of Jerusalem.

⁹ Nebuzaradan, commander of the guard, deported the remainder of the population left behind in the city, the deserters who had gone over to him, and the rest of the artisans to Babylon.

¹⁰ Nebuzaradan, commander of the guard, left some of the humbler people who had nothing, in the land of Judah, at the same time giving them vineyards and fields.

¹¹ Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had given the following orders to Nebuzaradan, commander of the guard, about Jeremiah:

¹² ‘Take him, look after him; do him no harm, but treat him as he wishes’.

¹³ Whereupon (Nebuzaradan, commander of the guard,) Nebushazban, the high official, Nergal-sharezer, the chief officer, and all the officers of the king of Babylon despatched men.

¹⁴ … and they despatched men to take Jeremiah from the Court of the Guard, and allowed him to move about freely. And so he lived among the people.

¹⁵ While Jeremiah was confined in the Court of the Guard, the word of Yahweh was addressed to him,

¹⁶ ‘Go and say to Ebed-melech the Cushite, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, says this: See, I am bringing disaster, not prosperity, on this city, as I said I would. That day, when this comes true before your eyes,

¹⁷ I will rescue you that day – it is Yahweh who speaks – and you will not be delivered into the hands of the men you fear.

¹⁸ will see that you escape: you are not going to fall to the sword; you will escape with your life, because you have put your trust in me – it is Yahweh who speaks.”‘