Jeremiah 39:1

1 In the ninth year of Zedekiah, king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and all his host (and all his army), came to Jerusalem, and they besieged 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, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and all his host (and all his army), came to Jerusalem, and they besieged it.

2 Forsooth in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month (on the fifth day of the mouth), the city was opened;

3 and all the princes of the king of Babylon entered, and sat in the middle gate, Nergalsharezer, Samgarnebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, (another) Nergalsharezer, Rabmag, and all [the] other princes of the king of Babylon. (and all the leaders, or all the officers, of the king of Babylon entered, and sat at the Middle Gate, yea, Nergalsharezer, Samgarnebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, another Nergalsharezer, Rabmag, and all the other officers of the king of Babylon.)

4 And when Zedekiah, the king of Judah, and all the men warriors had seen them, they fled, and went out by night from the city, by the way of the garden of the king, and by the gate that was betwixt (the) two walls; and they went out to the way of (the) desert.

5 Forsooth the host of Chaldees pursued them, and they took Zedekiah in the field of wilderness of Jericho; and they took him, and brought to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in Riblah, which is in the land of Hamath; and Nebuchadnezzar spake dooms to him. (And the Chaldean army pursued them, and they took hold of Zedekiah in the field of the Jericho wilderness; and they took him, and brought him to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, in Riblah, which is in the land of Hamath; and Nebuchadnezzar passed judgement upon him/and Nebuchadnezzar spoke out his sentence, or his fate.)