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2 Kings 25:4-12

Context
25:4 The enemy broke through the city walls, 1  and all the soldiers tried to escape. They left the city during the night. 2  They went through the gate between the two walls that is near the king’s garden. 3  (The Babylonians were all around the city.) Then they headed for the Jordan Valley. 4  25:5 But the Babylonian army chased after the king. They caught up with him in the plains of Jericho, 5  and his entire army deserted him. 25:6 They captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, 6  where he 7  passed sentence on him. 25:7 Zedekiah’s sons were executed while Zedekiah was forced to watch. 8  The king of Babylon 9  then had Zedekiah’s eyes put out, bound him in bronze chains, and carried him off to Babylon.

Nebuchadnezzar Destroys Jerusalem

25:8 On the seventh 10  day of the fifth month, 11  in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard 12  who served the king of Babylon, arrived in Jerusalem. 13  25:9 He burned down the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem, including every large house. 14  25:10 The whole Babylonian army that came with the captain of the royal guard tore down the walls that surrounded Jerusalem. 25:11 Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, deported the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen. 15  25:12 But he 16  left behind some of the poor of the land and gave them fields and vineyards.

2 Kings 25:25-26

Context
25:25 But in the seventh month 17  Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family, 18  came with ten of his men and murdered Gedaliah, 19  as well as the Judeans and Babylonians who were with him at Mizpah. 25:26 Then all the people, from the youngest to the oldest, as well as the army officers, left for 20  Egypt, because they were afraid of what the Babylonians might do.

1 tn Heb “the city was breached.”

2 tn The Hebrew text is abrupt here: “And all the men of war by the night.” The translation attempts to capture the sense.

3 sn The king’s garden is mentioned again in Neh 3:15 in conjunction with the pool of Siloam and the stairs that go down from the city of David. This would have been in the southern part of the city near the Tyropean Valley which agrees with the reference to the “two walls” which were probably the walls on the eastern and western hills.

4 sn Heb “toward the Arabah.” The Arabah was the rift valley north and south of the Dead Sea. Here the intention was undoubtedly to escape across the Jordan to Moab or Ammon. It appears from Jer 40:14; 41:15 that the Ammonites were known to harbor fugitives from the Babylonians.

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

6 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.

7 tn The Hebrew text has the plural form of the verb, but the parallel passage in Jer 52:9 has the singular.

8 tn Heb “were killed before his eyes.”

9 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king of Babylon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

10 tn The parallel account in Jer 52:12 has “tenth.”

11 sn The seventh day of the month would have been August 14, 586 b.c. in modern reckoning.

12 tn For the meaning of this phrase see BDB 371 s.v. טַבָּח 2, and compare the usage in Gen 39:1.

13 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

14 tn Heb “and every large house he burned down with fire.”

15 tc The MT has “the multitude.” But הֶהָמוֹן (hehamon) should probably be emended to הֶאָמוֹן (heamon).

16 tn Heb “the captain of the royal guard.” However, the subject is clear from the preceding and contemporary English style would normally avoid repeating the proper name and title.

17 sn It is not altogether clear whether this is in the same year that Jerusalem fell or not. The wall was breached in the fourth month (= early July; Jer 39:2) and Nebuzaradan came and burned the palace, the temple, and many of the houses and tore down the wall in the fifth month (= early August; Jer 52:12). That would have left time between the fifth month and the seventh month (October) to gather in the harvest of grapes, dates and figs, and olives (Jer 40:12). However, many commentators feel that too much activity takes place in too short a time for this to have been in the same year and posit that it happened the following year or even five years later when a further deportation took place, possibly in retaliation for the murder of Gedaliah and the Babylonian garrison at Mizpah (Jer 52:30). The assassination of Gedaliah had momentous consequences and was commemorated in one of the post exilic fast days lamenting the fall of Jerusalem (Zech 8:19).

18 tn Heb “[was] from the seed of the kingdom.”

19 tn Heb “and they struck down Gedaliah and he died.”

20 tn Heb “arose and went to.”



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