Jeremiah 39:1

The Fall of Jerusalem to Babylon

1 In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem with his entire army and laid siege to it.

Jeremiah 39:1 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 39:1

In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth
month
The month Tebet, which answers to part of our December, and part of January; so that it was in the winter season the siege of Jerusalem began: came Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem,
and they besieged it;
provoked by Zedekiah's breaking covenant with him, and rebelling against him, who had set him upon his throne, in the room of his nephew; so that here was a mixture of perfidy and ingratitude, which he was determined to revenge; and being impatient of it, came at such an unseasonable time of the year for a long march and a siege. The king of Babylon came in person at first; but having begun the siege, and given proper orders to his generals for the carrying of it on, and supposing it would be a long one, retired to Riblah in Syria, either for pleasure or for business. The time of beginning the siege exactly agrees with the account in ( 2 Kings 25:1 ) ; only there it is more particular, expressing the day of the month, which was the tenth of it; and so in ( Jeremiah 52:4 ) . The reason of inserting the account of the siege and taking of the city, in this place, is both to show the exact accomplishment of Jeremiah's prophecies about it, and to lead on to some facts and predictions that followed it.

Jeremiah 39:1 In-Context

1 In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem with his entire army and laid siege to it.

2 In the fourth month of Zedekiah's eleventh year, on the ninth day of the month, the city was broken into.

3 All the officials of the king of Babylon entered and sat at the Middle Gate: Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim the Rab-saris, Nergal-sharezer the Rab-mag, and all the rest of the officials of Babylon's king.

4 When he saw them, Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers fled. They left the city at night by way of the king's garden through the gate between the two walls. They left along the route to the Arabah.

5 However, the Chaldean army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, arrested him, and brought him to Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon's king, at Riblah in the land of Hamath. The king passed sentence on him [there].