Discovery BoxJeremiah 52:8-13 
Context52:8 But the Babylonian army chased after the king. They caught up with Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, 1 and his entire army deserted him. 52:9 They captured him and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah 2 in the territory of Hamath and he passed sentence on him there. 52:10 The king of Babylon had Zedekiah’s sons put to death while Zedekiah was forced to watch. He also had all the nobles of Judah put to death there at Riblah. 52:11 He had Zedekiah’s eyes put out and had him bound in chains. 3 Then the king of Babylon had him led off to Babylon and he was imprisoned there until the day he died.
52:12 On the tenth 4 day of the fifth month, 5 in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard 6 who served 7 the king of Babylon, arrived in Jerusalem. 52:13 He burned down the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem, including every large house.
1 map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.
2 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.
3 tn Heb “fetters of bronze.” The more generic “chains” is used in the translation because “fetters” is a word unfamiliar to most modern readers.
4 tn The parallel account in 2 Kgs 25:8 has “seventh.”
5 sn The tenth day of the month would have been August 17, 586
6 tn For the meaning of this phrase see BDB 371 s.v. טַבָּח 2 and compare the usage in Gen 39:1.
7 tn Heb “stood before.”
