Immerse: Prophets - Flipbook - Page 289
38:28–39:16
J eremiah
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will kill you.’ If this happens, just tell them you begged me not to send you
back to Jonathan’s dungeon, for fear you would die there.”
Sure enough, it wasn’t long before the king’s officials came to Jeremiah
and asked him why the king had called for him. But Jeremiah followed the
king’s instructions, and they left without finding out the truth. No one had
overheard the conversation between Jeremiah and the king. And Jeremiah
remained a prisoner in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem
was captured.
In January of the ninth year of King Zedekiah’s reign, King Nebuchadnez
zar of Babylon came with his entire army to besiege Jerusalem. Two and a
half years later, on July 18 in the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s reign, a section
of the city wall was broken down. All the officers of the Babylonian army
came in and sat in triumph at the Middle Gate: Nergal-sharezer of Samgar,
and Nebo-sarsekim, a chief officer, and Nergal-sharezer, the king’s adviser,
and all the other officers of the king of Babylon.
When King Zedekiah of Judah and all the soldiers saw that the Bab
ylonians had broken into the city, they fled. They waited for nightfall and
then slipped through the gate between the two walls behind the king’s
garden and headed toward the Jordan Valley.
But the Babylonian troops chased them and overtook Zedekiah on the
plains of Jeric ho. They captured him and took him to King Nebuc hadnez
zar of Babylon, who was at Riblah in the land of Hamath. There the king
of Babylon pronounced judgment upon Zedekiah. The king of Babylon
made Zedekiah watch as he slaughtered his sons at Riblah. The king of
Babylon also slaughtered all the nobles of Judah. Then he gouged out Zed
ekiah’s eyes and bound him in bronze chains to lead him away to Babylon.
Meanwhile, the Babylonians burned Jerusalem, including the royal pal
ace and the houses of the people, and they tore down the walls of the city.
Then Nebuz aradan, the captain of the guard, took as exiles to Babylon
the rest of the people who remained in the city, those who had defected
to him, and everyone else who remained. But Nebuzaradan allowed some
of the poorest people to stay behind in the land of Judah, and he assigned
them to care for the vineyards and fields.
King Nebuchadnezzar had told Nebuz aradan, the captain of the guard,
to find Jeremiah. “See that he isn’t hurt,” he said. “Look after him well, and
give him anything he wants.” So Nebuz aradan, the captain of the guard;
Nebus hazban, a chief officer; Nergal-sharezer, the king’s adviser; and the
other officers of Babylon’s king sent messengers to bring Jeremiah out of
the prison. They put him under the care of Gedaliah son of Ahikam and
grandson of Shaphan, who took him back to his home. So Jeremiah stayed
in Judah among his own people.
