Jeremiah 37:17

37:17 Then King Zedekiah had him brought to the palace. There he questioned him privately and asked him, 1  “Is there any message from the Lord?” Jeremiah answered, “Yes, there is.” Then he announced, 2  “You will be handed over to the king of Babylon.” 3 

Jeremiah 39:5

39:5 But the Babylonian 4  army chased after them. They caught up with Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho 5  and captured him. 6  They took him to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon at Riblah 7  in the territory of Hamath and Nebuchadnezzar passed sentence on him there.

1 tn Heb “Then King Zedekiah sent and brought him and the king asked him privately [or more literally, in secret] and said.”

2 tn Heb “Then he said.”

3 sn Jeremiah’s answer even under duress was the same that he had given Zedekiah earlier. (See Jer 34:3 and see the study note on 34:1 for the relative timing of these two incidents.)

4 tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

5 map For location see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.

6 sn 2 Kgs 25:5 and Jer 52:8 mention that the soldiers all scattered from him. That is why the text focuses on Zedekiah here.

7 sn Riblah was a strategic town on the Orontes River in Syria. It was at a crossing of the major roads between Egypt and Mesopotamia. Pharaoh Necho had earlier received Jehoahaz there and put him in chains (2 Kgs 23:33) prior to taking him captive to Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar had set up his base camp for conducting his campaigns against the Palestinian states there and was now sitting in judgment on prisoners brought to him.