JEREMIAH 52

[당찬 엄마]

The Fall of Jerusalam

   1 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he

became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven

years. His mother's name was Hamutal daughter of

Jeremiah; she was from Libnah.   2 He did evil in the

eyes of the LORD, just as Jehoiakim had done.   3

because of the LORD's anger that all this

happened to Jerusalem and Judah, and in the end

he thrust them from his pesence.

   Now Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.   

4 So in the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, on the

tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king

of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his

whole army. They encamped outside the city and

built siege works all around it.   5 The city was kept

under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

   6 By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine

in the city had become so severe that there was no

food for the people to eat.   7 Then the city wall was

broken through, and the whole army fled. They left

the city at night through the gate between the two

walls near the king's garden, though the Babylonians

were surrounding the city. They fled toward the

Arabah,   8 but the Babylonian army pursued

King Zedekiah and overtook him in the plains of

Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him

and scattered,   9 and he was captured.

   He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah in

the land of Hamath, where he pronounced sentence

on him.   10 There at Riblah the king of Babylon killed

the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; he also killed

all the officials of Judah.   11 Then he put out

Zedekiah's eyes, bound him with bronze shackles

and took him to Babylon, where he put him in prison

till the day of his death.

   12 On the tenth day of the fifth month, in the

nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,

Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, who

served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.

13 He set fire to the temple of the LORD, the royal

palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every

important building he burned down.   14 The whole

Babylonian army, under the commander of the

imperial guard, broke down all the walls around

Jerusalem.   15 Nebuzaradan the commander of the

guard carried into exile some of the poorest people

and those who remained in the city, along with the

rest of the craftsmen and those who had

deserted to the king of Babylon.   16 But Nebuzaradan

left behind the rest of the poorest people of the land

to work the vineyards and fields.

   17 The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the

movable stands and the bronze Sea that were at the

temple of the LORD and they carried all the bronze to

Babylon.   18 They also took away the pots, shovels,

wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes and all the

bronze articles used in the temple service.   19 The

commander of the imperial guard took away the

basins, censers, sprinkling bowls, pots, lampstands,

dishes and bowls used for drink offerings--all tha

twere made of pure gold or silver.

   20 The bronze from the two pillars, the Sea and

the twelve bronze bulls under it, and the movable

stands, which King Solomon had made for the

temple of the LORD, was more than could be

weighed.   21 Each pillar was eighteen cubits high and

twelve cubits in circumference; each was four

fingers thick, and hollow.   22 The bronze capital on

top of one pillar was five cubits high and was

decorated with a network and pomegranates of

bronze all around. The other pillar, with its

pomegranates, was similar.   23 There were ninety-six

pomegranates on the sides; the total number of

pomegranates above the surrounding network was

a hundred.

   24 The commander of the guard took as prisoners

Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest next in

rank and the three doorkeepers.   25 Of those still in

the city, he took the officer in charge of the fighting

men, and seven royal advisers. He also took the

secretary who was chief officer in charge of

conscripting the people of the land, sixty of whom

were found in the city.   26 Nebuzaradan the

commander took them all and brought them to the

king of Babylon at Riblah.   27 There at Riblah, in the 

land of Hamath, the king had them executed.

   So Judah went into captivity, away from her land.

28 This is the number of the people

Nebuchadnezzar carried into exile:

   in the seventh year,

         3,023 Jews;

   29 in Nebuchadnezzar's eighteenth year,

         832 people from Jerusalem;

   30 in his twnty-third year,

         745 Jews taken into exile by Nebuzaradan

         the commander of the imperial guard.

         There were 4,600 people in all.

Jehoiachin Released

   31 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of

Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Awel-Marduk

became king of Babylon, on the twenty-fifth day of

the twelfth month, he released Jehoiachin king of

Judah and freed him from prison.   32 He spoke kindly

to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than

those of the other kings who were with him in

Babylon.   33 So Jehoiachin put aside his prison

clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the

king's table.   34 Day by day the king of Babylon gave

Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived,

till the day of his death.