Jeremiah 39 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

The Fall of Jerusalem

(2Ki 25:1–12; Jer 52:4–16 )

Jer 39:1In January[fn] of the ninth year of King Zedekiah’s reign, King Nebuchadnezzar[fn] came with his army to besiege Jerusalem.

Jer 39:2

Jer 39:2Two and a half years later, on July 18[fn] in the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s reign, the Babylonians broke through the wall, and the city fell.

Jer 39:3

Jer 39:3All the officers of the Babylonian army came in and sat in triumph at the Middle Gate: Nergal-sharezer of Samgar, and Nebo-sarsekim,[fn] a chief officer, and Nergal-sharezer, the king’s adviser, and all the other officers.

Jer 39:4

Jer 39:4When King Zedekiah and all the soldiers saw that the Babylonians 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.[fn]

Jer 39:5

Jer 39:5But the Babylonian[fn] troops chased the king and caught him on the plains of Jericho. They took him to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who was at Riblah in the land of Hamath. There the king of Babylon pronounced judgment upon Zedekiah.

Jer 39:6

Jer 39:6He made Zedekiah watch as they slaughtered his sons and all the nobles of Judah.

Jer 39:7

Jer 39:7Then they gouged out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him in bronze chains, and led him away to Babylon.

Jer 39:8

Jer 39:8Meanwhile, the Babylonians burned Jerusalem, including the palace, and tore down the walls of the city.

Jer 39:9

Jer 39:9Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, sent to Babylon the rest of the people who remained in the city as well as those who had defected to him.

Jer 39:10

Jer 39:10But Nebuzaradan left a few of the poorest people in Judah, and he assigned them vineyards and fields to care for.

Jeremiah Remains in Judah

Jer 39:11

Jer 39:11King Nebuchadnezzar had told Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, to find Jeremiah.

Jer 39:12

Jer 39:12“See that he isn’t hurt,” he said. “Look after him well, and give him anything he wants.”

Jer 39:13

Jer 39:13So Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard; Nebushazban, a chief officer; Nergal-sharezer, the king’s adviser; and the other officers of Babylon’s king

Jer 39:14

Jer 39:14sent 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.

Jer 39:15

Jer 39:15The LORD had given the following message to Jeremiah while he was still in prison:

Jer 39:16

Jer 39:16“Say to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian,[fn] ‘This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: I will do to this city everything I have threatened. I will send disaster, not prosperity. You will see its destruction,

Jer 39:17

Jer 39:17but I will rescue you from those you fear so much.

Jer 39:18

Jer 39:18Because you trusted me, I will give you your life as a reward. I will rescue you and keep you safe. I, the LORD, have spoken!’”

See the NLT Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NLT Footnotes

(39:1)

Hebrew in the tenth month, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. A number of events in Jeremiah can be cross-checked with dates in surviving Babylonian records and related accurately to our modern calendar. This event occurred on January 15, 588 B.C.; see 52:4a and the note there.

(39:1)

Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of Nebuchadnezzar; also in 39:11.

(39:2)

Hebrew On the ninth day of the fourth month. This day was July 18, 586 B.C.; also see note on 39:1a.

(39:3)

Or Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsekim.

(39:4)

Hebrew the Arabah.

(39:5)

Or Chaldean; similarly in 39:8.

(39:16)

Hebrew the Cushite.