HarperCollins Study Bible, page 293
50You survivors of the sword,
go, do not linger!
Remember the LORD in a distant land,
and let Jerusalem come into your mind:
51We are put to shame, for we have heard insults;
dishonor has covered our face,
for aliens have come
into the holy places of the LORD’s house.
52Therefore the time is surely coming, says the LORD,
when I will punish her idols,
and through all her land
the wounded shall groan.
53Though Babylon should mount up to heaven,
and though she should fortify her strong height,
from me destroyers would come upon her,
says the LORD.
54Listen!—a cry from Babylon!
A great crashing from the land of the Chaldeans!
55For the LORD is laying Babylon waste,
and stilling her loud clamor.
Their waves roar like mighty waters,
the sound of their clamor resounds;
56for a destroyer has come against her,
against Babylon;
her warriors are taken,
their bows are broken;
for the LORD is a God of recompense,
he will repay in full.
57I will make her officials and her sages drunk,
also her governors, her deputies, and her warriors;
they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and never wake,
says the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
58Thus says the LORD of hosts:
The broad wall of Babylon
shall be leveled to the ground,
and her high gates
shall be burned with fire.
The peoples exhaust themselves for nothing,
and the nations weary themselves only for fire.e
Jeremiah’s Command to Seraiah
59The word that the prophet Jeremiah commanded Seraiah son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, when he went with King Zedekiah of Judah to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster. 60Jeremiah wrote in af scroll all the disasters that would come on Babylon, all these words that are written concerning Babylon. 61And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, 62and say, ‘O LORD, you yourself threatened to destroy this place so that neither human beings nor animals shall live in it, and it shall be desolate forever.’ 63When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it, and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates, 64and say, ‘Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disasters that I am bringing on her.’”g
Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
next chapter
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a Or stir up the spirit of a destroyer
b Leb-qamai is a cryptogram for Kasdim, Chaldea
c Heb lacks the LORD
d Sheshach is a cryptogram for Babel, Babylon
e Gk Syr Compare Hab 2.13: Heb and the nations for fire, and they are weary
f Or one
g Gk: Heb on her. And they shall weary themselves
51.1 Leb-qamai, in Hebrew “the heart of those who rise up against me.” It is another example of ath-bash (see note on 25.26) that works out to mean kasdim, the Chaldeans (Babylonians).
51.11 Medes. Media, located in northwest Iran, was a separate empire that helped in the overthrow of the Assyrians at the end of the seventh century BCE. It became a Persian province in 549 BCE and participated in the defeat of the Babylonians (see Isa 13.17).
51.15–19 These verses are taken from 10.12–16.
51.20–23 These words appear to be addressed to Cyrus (see Isa 41.2–4).
51.27 Ararat (Urartu), a people inhabiting a region near Lake Van (southeast Turkey and northwest Iran). Minni (Mannaya), a people who lived in an area south of Lake Urmia in modern northern Iraq. Ashkenaz, probably an Indo-European people who lived near modern Armenia and were identified by Herodotus as the Scythians.
51.41 Sheshach. See note on 25.26.
51.59–64 This narrative purports to tell how the oracles against Babylonia were written in a book and carried to Babylon by Seraiah when he accompanied King Zedekiah on his trip to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign (593 BCE). Seraiah was a brother of Baruch (see 32.12). It may be that Zedekiah made such a trip in order to explain his participation in the conspiracy mentioned in ch. 27. The oracles against Babylon do not agree with Jeremiah’s pro-Babylonian stance prior to the fall of Jerusalem. It is likely that the editor of the collection of oracles against Babylon composed this narrative in order to attribute them to Jeremiah.
51.63 A symbolic act (see note on 13.1–11).
JEREMIAH 52
The Destruction of Jerusalem Reviewed
1Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign; he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 2He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, just as Jehoiakim had done. 3Indeed, Jerusalem and Judah so angered the LORD that he expelled them from his presence.
Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 4And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem, and they laid siege to it; they built siegeworks against it all around. 5So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 6On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine became so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. 7Then a breach was made in the city wall;a and all the soldiers fled and went out from the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, by the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. They went in the direction of the Arabah. 8But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered, deserting him. 9Then they captured the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him. 10The king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and also killed all the officers of Judah at Riblah. 11He put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in fetters, and the king of Babylon took him to Babylon, and put him in prison until the day of his death.
12In the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month—which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard who served the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem. 13He burned the house of the LORD, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. 14All the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls around Jerusalem. 15Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile some of the poorest of the people and the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the artisans. 16But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poorest people of the land to be vinedressers and tillers of the soil.
17The pillars of bronze that were in the house of the LORD, and the stands and the bronze sea that were in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried all the bronze to Babylon. 18They took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the basins, the ladles, and all the vessels of bronze used in the temple service. 19The captain of the guard took away the small bowls also, the firepans, the basins, the pots, the lampstands, the ladles, and the bowls for libation, both those of gold and those of silver. 20As for the two pillars, the one sea, the twelve bronze bulls that were under the sea, and the stands,b which King Solomon had made for the house of the LORD, the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weighing. 21As for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, its circumference was twelve cubits; it was hollow and its thickness was four fingers. 22Upon it was a capital of bronze; the height of the capital was five cubits; latticework and pomegranates, all of bronze, encircled the top of the capital. And the second pillar had the same, with pomegranates. 23There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates encircling the latticework numbered one hundred.
24The captain of the guard took the chief priest Seraiah, the second priest Zephaniah, and the three guardians of the threshold; 25and from the city he took an officer who had been in command of the soldiers, and seven men of the king’s council who were found in the city; the secretary of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land who were found inside the city. 26Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 27And the king of Babylon struck them down, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah went into exile out of its land.
28This is the number of the people whom Nebuchadrezzar took into exile: in the seventh year, three thousand twenty-three Judeans; 29in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar he took into exile from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty-two persons; 30in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadrezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took into exile of the Judeans seven hundred forty-five persons; all the persons were four thousand six hundred.
Jehoiachin Favored in Captivity
31In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, King Evil-merodach of Babylon, in the year he began to reign, showed favor to King Jehoiachin of Judah and brought him out of prison; 32he spoke kindly to him, and gave him a seat above the seats of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. 33So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes, and every day of his life he dined regularly at the king’s table. 34For his allowance, a regular daily allowance was given him by the king of Babylon, as long as he lived, up to the day of his death.
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a Heb lacks wall
b Cn: Heb that were under the stands
52.1–34 A historical appendix principally taken from 2 Kings 24.18–25.30 in order to provide additional information about the rebellion of Zedekiah, the fall of Jerusalem, and the exile (see chs. 39–43).
52.1–3 A brief summary of the reign of Zedekiah (see 2 Kings 24.18–20).
52.4–11 The siege, fall of Jerusalem, and capture of Zedekiah.
52.12–16 The commander of the Babylonian army, Nebuzaradan (cf. 39.9–14; 40.1–6), ordered the burning of Jerusalem, including the temple and palace, and took into exile all but the country’s very poor.
52.17–23 The spoils taken from the temple are listed (cf. 28.3).
52.24–27 Seraiah. See 36.26. Zephaniah. See 21.1; 29.24–32.
52.28–30 The lists of exiles from three deportations (597, 587, 582 BCE). These verses are not in the account in 2 Kings.
52.31–34 The release of Jehoiachin from prison in 560 BCE indicates that the book of Jeremiah was edited sometime after this event. Evil-merodach (Akkadian Amel-Marduk), the son and successor of Nebuchadrezzar. He ruled only two years (562–560 BCE) before being replaced by his brother-in-law, Neriglissar, in a rebellion.
52.1–34 A historical appendix principally taken from 2 Kings 24.18–25.30 in order to provide additional information about the rebellion of Zedekiah, the fall of Jerusalem, and the exile (see chs. 39–43).
52.1–3 A brief summary of the reign of Zedekiah (see 2 Kings 24.18–20).
52.4–11 The siege, fall of Jerusalem, and capture of Zedekiah.
52.12–16 The commander of the Babylonian army, Nebuzaradan (cf. 39.9–14; 40.1–6), ordered the burning of Jerusalem, including the temple and palace, and took into exile all but the country’s very poor.
52.17–23 The spoils taken from the temple are listed (cf. 28.3).
52.24–27 Seraiah. See 36.26. Zephaniah. See 21.1; 29.24–32.
52.28–30 The lists of exiles from three deportations (597, 587, 582 BCE). These verses are not in the account in 2 Kings.
52.31–34 The release of Jehoiachin from prison in 560 BCE indicates that the book of Jeremiah was edited sometime after this event. Evil-merodach (Akkadian Amel-Marduk), the son and successor of Nebuchadrezzar. He ruled only two years (562–560 BCE) before being replaced by his brother-in-law, Neriglissar, in a rebellion.
LAMENTATIONS
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
THE BOOK OF LAMENTATIONS is a work of art produced in response to a historical disaster. Its five poems grieve over the destruction of Jerusalem, military occupation, and the deportation of its leading citizens by King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians in 586 BCE. Historical background appears in 2 Kings 25.8–21. The book’s evocative poetry enables it to encompass the sorrows of the world.
Name and Canonical Context
THE BOOK’S NAME in the Hebrew Bible is ’ekah (“How!”), after the initial word in 1.1, repeated in 2.1; 4.1. The title is a conventional cry of shock at a death, which also implies a question: “How could this happen to God’s beloved city?” The English “Lamentations” translates the Latin threni (Greek threnoi), which reflects another Hebrew title, qinot, attested in the Babylonian Talmud (Bava Batra 14b). In most English Bibles, which follow the order of the Latin and Greek versions, Lamentations comes after Jeremiah, but in the Hebrew Bible Lamentations appears among the Writings (Hebrew ketuvim) as one of the five liturgical scrolls (Hebrew megillot). Jewish communities read Lamentations on the “Ninth of Av” to commemorate the destruction of the temple by the Roman emperor Titus in 70 CE as well as subsequent attacks on the Jewish people. Christians read portions of Lamentations during Holy Week. The text of Lamentations has frequently been set to music.
Literary Form and Character
THE FIRST FOUR SECTIONS of this poetic book are acrostic compositions; the strophes or verses begin with the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet in succession. The significance of acrostic order, which is found in Pss 9–10; 25; 34; 111; 112; 119; 145; Prov 31.10–31, is unclear. Some interpreters believe that such compositions are mnemonic devices. Others detect literary meaning. The movement from a to z (aleph to taw) suggests that suffering is complete, total, and allows room for no more. Or the acrostic form may be an effort to put order into the chaotic experience that followed invasion and persisted during military occupation of Judah.
The arrangement of the poems is also puzzling. The first two are of equal length and similar acrostic structure; each verse begins with a different letter. The central poem (ch. 3) intensifies the acrostic, devoting three verses to each letter of the alphabet. Since this is the only place in the poetry where hope finds strong expression, this alteration in acrostic form has led some commentators to call it the heart of the book. But this is to overlook the next two chapters, which thin out the alphabetic structuring. The fourth poem resumes the acrostic style of chs. 1 and 2, but ch. 5 drops the acrostic form altogether, even though its twenty-two verses mimic the twenty-two-letter alphabet. The movement of the acrostics across the book suggests hope emerging and fading, confidence breaking though grief and anger and then dwindling. Such a breakdown of confidence in God and the world is a common response to the trauma experienced by individuals and communities.
Formally, the poetry of Lamentations exhibits affinities to such other biblical genres as the elegy, or funeral lament, and the individual and communal psalms of lamentation. Laments over the destruction of cities and temples are known also from extrabiblical sources going back to the second millennium BCE; see, e.g., the “Lamentation over the Destruction of Sumer and Ur.” Yet in keeping with the specificity of the historical occasion, Lamentations, while incorporating and adapting several traditional elements, is a unique literary composition addressed to the survivors of the destruction of Jerusalem and designed to help them come to terms with the historical reality and the religious implications of that catastrophic experience. It has been suggested, with some degree of plausibility, that these poems were used in public rites of mourning, such as those known to have been carried on at the site of the ruins of the Jerusalem temple (see Jer 41.5; Zech 7.1–7; 8.19).
Lamentations is an eloquent expression of grief that helped survivors come to terms with the historical calamity they had experienced. Appeals for repentance, however, are frequently interspersed with appeals for God’s mercy and compassion on the penitent survivors. A cautious note of hope is sounded in the center of the book (see 3.21–33), where the poet gives expression to the belief that, although God’s wrath is limited (3.31), divine mercy and compassion are limitless (3.22–24). This message has continued to reverberate through subsequent ages and calamities to the present day.
Authorship and Date of Composition
THE GREEK VERSION OF LAMENTATIONS contains a sentence not present in the older Hebrew text: “These are the words of the prophet Jeremiah as he sat upon the hill weeping over Jerusalem.” Although it is unlikely that Jeremiah wrote this book, he symbolically presides over it as one who predicted Jerusalem’s fall and whose prophetic book also abounds with lamentation and weeping.
The oldest Hebrew manuscripts of Lamentations make no reference to Jeremiah, and both content and style of the prophetic book differ sharply from Lamentations (contrast 1.10 with Jer 7.14; 4.17 with Jer 2.18 and 37.5–10; and 4.20 with Jer 37.17). Lamentations is probably the work of a survivor (or survivors) of the nation’s destruction who poured out sorrow, anger, and dismay after the city’s traumatic defeat and occupation by the Babylonians. Because the book of Jeremiah tells of citizens going to worship at the site of the destroyed temple (41.4–5), some interpreters imagine it to be the place where this book took form in worship that continued among the ruins. [WERNER E. LEMKE, revised by KATHLEEN O’CONNOR]
LAMENTATIONS 1
The Deserted City
1How lonely sits the city
that once was full of people!
How like a widow she has become,
she that was great among the nations!
