Lamentations 2, Overthrown Without Pity

The previous chapter described the devastation caused by Nebuchadnezzar's sack of Jerusalem. Here the prophet weeps as he watches the starvation and death occurring at the end of Nebuchadnezzar's siege. Ellison argues that this chapter was written before chapter 1. House would disagree, seeing these first two chapters as a natural pair, both describing the pain of Jerusalem's sin.

Lamentations 2:1, Zion hurled down

How the Lord has covered Daughter Zion with the cloud of his anger! 

He has hurled down the splendor of Israel from heaven to earth;

 he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger. 

Jerusalem has lost its splendor, as a result of God's wrath. It used to be a footstool (a sign of submission) but now God has forgotten it.

Lamentations 2:2-3, No pity

Without pity the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob; 

in his wrath he has torn down the strongholds of Daughter Judah. 

He has brought her kingdom and its princes down to the ground in dishonor. 

In fierce anger he has cut off every horn of Israel. 

He has withdrawn his right hand at the approach of the enemy. 

He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire that consumes everything around it. 

The leaders, the princes of Judah have been torn down, along with all her strongholds. The "horn" (power) of Israel is removed as God allows an enemy to approach. Judah (and Israel a century before) are consumed.

Lamentations 2:4-5, God as enemy

Like an enemy he has strung his bow; his right hand is ready. 

Like a foe he has slain all who were pleasing to the eye; 

he has poured out his wrath like fire on the tent of Daughter Zion. 

The Lord is like an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel. 

He has swallowed up all her palaces and destroyed her strongholds. 

He has multiplied mourning and lamentation for Daughter Judah. 

Indeed, it is God who is Israel's enemy. There is no vague suggestion about that here -- it is God who strings his bow. It is He who swallows up the palaces and brings down the strongholds and causes all the mourning.

Lamentations 2:6-7, Worship rejected

He has laid waste his dwelling like a garden; he has destroyed his place of meeting. 

The LORD has made Zion forget her appointed festivals and her Sabbaths; 

in his fierce anger he has spurned both king and priest.

The Lord has rejected his altar and abandoned his sanctuary. 

He has given the walls of her palaces into the hands of the enemy;

 they have raised a shout in the house of the LORD as on the day of an appointed festival.  

Previously Jerusalem/Zion was lax in her Sabbath worship. Now she has been made to forget religious festivals and Sabbaths. The temple sanctuary is given over to the enemy.

Lamentations 2:8-9, Walls come down, gates sink

The LORD determined to tear down the wall around Daughter Zion. 

He stretched out a measuring line and did not withhold his hand from destroying. 

He made ramparts and walls lament; together they wasted away. 

Her gates have sunk into the ground; their bars he has broken and destroyed. 

Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations, the law is no more,

 and her prophets no longer find visions from the LORD. 

Jerusalem is torn down, not by invaders, but really by God. The gates and bars are broken down and her princes and prophets exiled. The king (Jehoiachin?) and his royal family have been taken away.

Lamentations 2:10, Women and elders bowed down

The elders of Daughter Zion sit on the ground in silence; 

they have sprinkled dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. 

The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground. 

From the young women of Jerusalem to the city elders, there is a display of deep mourning.

Lamentations 2:11-12, Lives ebbing away

My eyes fail from weeping, I am in torment within; 

my heart is poured out on the ground because my people are destroyed,

because children and infants faint in the streets of the city. 

They say to their mothers, “Where is bread and wine?” 

as they faint like the wounded in the streets of the city, 

as their lives ebb away in their mothers’ arms. 

The narration changes over to first person. The prophet weeps because the children are starving and dying.

Lamentations 2:13, Wounds deep as the sea

What can I say for you? With what can I compare you, Daughter Jerusalem? 

To what can I liken you, that I may comfort you, Virgin Daughter Zion? 

Your wound is as deep as the sea. Who can heal you? 

The prophet speaks directly to the city. There is no healing for Jerusalem; there is no comfort. Her wounds are far too deep for healing.

Lamentations 2:14, False prophets

The visions of your prophets were false and worthless; 

they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity. 

The prophecies they gave you were false and misleading. 

The false prophets kept reassuring Jerusalem that everything was OK, when it was not. See Jeremiah 23:18-22 and Ezekiel 13:10-16 for earlier examples of warning about these false prophets.

Lamentations 2:15, Clap and mock

All who pass your way clap their hands at you; 

they scoff and shake their heads at Daughter Jerusalem: 

“Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?” 

Clapping hands in mockery, scoffing and shaking their heads, is the action of the outsiders passing by. There is no respect for Jerusalem's former beauty.

The last phrase, "joy of the whole earth", recalls Psalm 48:2. Indeed, the last line is much longer than expected and so Ellison suggests that the Hebrew  hā·’ā·reṣ kāl- mə·śō·wś may have been accidentally added by a scribe recalling that psalm.

The Hebrew text for this verse begins with the word saphaq, ("clap"), which itself begins with the fifteenth Hebrew letter, samech. 

Lamentations 2:16, Open mouths

All your enemies open their mouths wide against you;

 they scoff and gnash their teeth and say, “We have swallowed her up. 

This is the day we have waited for; we have lived to see it.” 

While Jerusalem mourns, her enemies rejoice.

The Hebrew text for this verse begins with the word patsah, ("to open") which itself begins with the seventeenth (not the sixteenth!) Hebrew letter, pe. For some reason, the Hebrew letter pe comes before ayin in chapters 2, 3 and 4 of Lamentations although the order of the Hebrew letters had apparently been set long before this (says Ellison.)

Lamentations 2:17, Decreed from long go

The LORD has done what he planned; he has fulfilled his word, 

which he decreed long ago. He has overthrown you without pity, 

he has let the enemy gloat over you, he has exalted the horn of your foes. 

The author recalls the prophecies (by people like Isaiah a century before and Jeremiah more recently and passages in the Books of Moses, such as Deuteronomy 28:15-68) that warned of this judgment.

The Hebrew text for this verse begins with the word asah ("to do"), which itself begins with the sixteenth (not the seventeenth) Hebrew letter, ayin.

Lamentations 2:18-19, Weep you walls

The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord. 

You walls of Daughter Zion, let your tears flow like a river day and night; 

give yourself no relief, your eyes no rest. 

Arise, cry out in the night, as the watches of the night begin; 

pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. 

Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children, 

who faint from hunger at every street corner. 

Even the walls of Jerusalem are to cry out and weep for the dying children in the streets.

The four lines of verse 19 violate the tricolon (three-line) structure of this psalm and so some commentators suggest that the last line was not in the original text (Ellison, p. 715.)

Lamentations 2:20-22, Dead and dying in the streets

“Look, LORD, and consider: Whom have you ever treated like this? 

Should women eat their offspring, the children they have cared for? 

Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord? 

“Young and old lie together in the dust of the streets; 

my young men and young women have fallen by the sword. 

You have slain them in the day of your anger; 

you have slaughtered them without pity.

“As you summon to a feast day, so you summoned against me terrors on every side. 

In the day of the LORD’s anger no one escaped or survived; 

those I cared for and reared my enemy has destroyed.”

The prophet turns to address YHWH directly and so this passage is a prayer, a combination of accusation and plea. Women eat their children so as not to starve. Priests and prophets are killed in the sanctuary. There are bodies everywhere. Please look, Lord, says the author as he accuses God of inviting these terrors as if He were sending out invitations to a party. 

House (p. 374) quotes Renkema as observing a certain chiasmic (concentric) structure to this chapter, with verses 1 and 22 describing "the day of his anger", verses 2 and 21 on God's lack of mercy or pity, verses 3 and 20 describing some type of "'consuming' imagery", and so on. 

Some Random Thoughts

The author of this lament weeps as starving children die in the streets. As I type these words, I am aware of children dying in Gaza as, 2500 years later, fighting continues between Jerusalem and the nations around her.

A Beautiful City Destroyed: An Introduction to Lamentations

What a strange little book is the book of Lamentations!  It consists of five laments, five psalms of pain and weeping. It deals with the fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar and has been attributed to the prophet Jeremiah and in the modern Bible, follows the book of Jeremiah. Although the writing of the book fits in with Jeremiah's prophecies, there is no claim to authorship in the text and there are good arguments against Jeremiah as author, with the possible exception of the third chapter.

The first four chapters are poems written in an acrostic structure. In chapters 1, 2 and 4, each letter of the Hebrew alphabet is the first letter in a verse and so there are 22 verses in each of these chapters. In chapters 1 and 2, the acrostic verse involves three lines (or three sets of short parallelisms.) In chapter 4, the acrostic verse in a single line. In chapter 3, each letter of the Hebrew alphabet is the first letter of three lines in a row, and so, viewing those lines as verses, the chapter has 66 verses.

Chapters 1-4 are in the Qinah metre, a lament meter that is a long line of five beats, in a 3+2 pattern. Many of these verses consist of three lines in that meter, with loose parallelism.

The fifth chapter has 22 lines, 22 verses, but no longer follow the acrostic pattern. 

Paul House, in his commentary, points out that the narration moves back and forth between first and third person. Sometimes the prophet speaks to Jerusalem, using the second person. Like Song of Songs, it is of value to keep up with the identity of the narrator. Sometimes it is the prophet speaking, sometimes Jerusalem, sometimes YHWH.  An example of this occurs in chapter 1 in which the prophet describes Jerusalem as a weeping, destitute queen in the first half of the chapter and then has the broken queen speaking in the second half.

The Setting

See 2 Kings 24-25 for a description of the destruction of Jerusalem. The final conquest and burning of the city occurred about 586 or 587 BC. Out of that event come five psalms of lament, each with a slightly different emphasis, together giving a sad and depressing view of the anguish of the devout Jew as their society collapses.

Resources and References

My practice is to read through the text from the New International Version (NIV), copied into the blog and italicized in blue.  At the head of each blue paragraph of text I place a short title; after the text I place my thoughts or comments in black.  I begin this process with my own reactions and thoughts and then supplement these comments with gleanings from a commentary or two.

The goal of this blog is to force us to read every verse thoughtfully, getting a deep picture for the text, as a whole.

I place hyperlinks in pink, created so that one can click on a link and see the linked site open in another window... and go down a rabbit hole if you wish!

For the book of Lamentations, I have relied mainly on a commentary by H. L. Ellison in The Expositors Bible Commentary series, edited by Frank E. Gaebelein, volume 6. After a first run through the text using Ellison's commentary I then used some comments from Song of Songs and Lamentations, Volume 23B (Word Biblical Commentary) by Duane Garrett and Dr. Paul R. House. (That book was recommended by the Ligonier ministry; see here for their top five commentaries on Lamentations.)

There are other resources online.

• Amongst the online commentaries provided by EasyEnglishBible, is an online commentary on Lamentations. (The Easy English Bible commentaries are easy to read, with deliberately simple language intended for those for whom English is a second language. The Old Testament text is included in the commentary.) 
• The Gospel Coalition now has a set of online commentaries. Here is their commentary on Lamentations.
• I highly recommend the Bible Project video on Lamentations. That video is part of a larger guide to the book.

Motivation

Paul House (p. 280) accuses the modern Western church of a certain "amnesia" regarding the book of Lamentations. "The Western church has gotten addicted to success and wealth..." and so "considering Lamentations could bring the church back into the real world depicted in Scripture. In Lamentations, sin is destructive; it must be confessed or there is not forgiveness for it." House goes on to describe the Old Testament genre of laments, both in this book and in the psalms and elsewhere. It is indeed true that the modern church, except for an abridged version of one verse, does not want to read or recite Lamentations or many of the other psalms of Lament. (On a different but related issue of grief and lament, see this article on the cancer battle of a child.)

And so we hope to correct that oversight by spending five days in this book. (I am tempted to say, "Enjoy!" but that would miss the point.) Let us lament the destruction of the beautiful city of Zion and the oh-so-human stubbornness of her people.

Lamentations 1, Lady Zion Weeps

In this acrostic poem, Lady Zion, representing Jerusalem, weeps in the streets. There is only pain and shame. There is none of Jeremiah's hope for a future Day of the Lord. This chapter carries no hope, just pain and sadness.

It is likely that this lament was written about the same time as Psalm 79, by one walking through Jerusalem and seeing the devastation after its sack.

This psalm is an acrostic: each verse begins with a different Hebrew letter. 

Lamentations 1:1, The queen a widow

How deserted lies the city, once so full of people! 

How like a widow is she, who once was great among the nations! 

She who was queen among the provinces has now become a slave. 

The beautiful queen city has become a despondent widow.

The English word "How" is a translation of ’ê·ḵāh, which begins with the letter aleph (denoted by the apostrophe ( ’ ).) This word also begins the second and fourth chapters and gives echoes of David's "How long, O Lord" beginnings for some psalms.

Lamentations 1:2, Bitter weeping

Bitterly she weeps at night, tears are on her cheeks. 

Among all her lovers there is no one to comfort her. 

All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies. 

The abandoned widow weeps bitterly -- both friends and lovers have betrayed her, indeed, they have become enemies.

Lamentations 1:3, No peace

After affliction and harsh labor, Judah has gone into exile. 

She dwells among the nations; she finds no resting place. 

All who pursue her have overtaken her in the midst of her distress. 

The country of Judah is isolated and defeated. Her people have no place of peace among the nations of the ancient Near East.

Lamentations 1:4, Priests groan

The roads to Zion mourn, for no one comes to her appointed festivals. 

All her gateways are desolate, her priests groan, 

her young women grieve, and she is in bitter anguish. 

There is no longer joy in Jerusalem; everyone grieves. (The young women in this passage may be women who, like the priests, serve in the sanctuary, says Ellison. An example occurs in Psalm 68:24-25, in which the women play timbrels as they approach the temple.)

Lamentations 1:5, Enemies at ease

Her foes have become her masters; her enemies are at ease. 

The LORD has brought her grief because of her many sins. 

Her children have gone into exile, captive before the foe. 

Judah has no peace, but her enemies do. The grief of Jerusalem is due to her sins and judgment.

Lamentations 1:6, Princes flee

All the splendor has departed from Daughter Zion. 

Her princes are like deer that find no pasture; 

in weakness they have fled before the pursuer. 

The author laments that the splendor of Jerusalem is gone; even her princes have fled. (The account of the flight of Zedekiah and his court is in 2 Kings 25:4-7.)

Lamentations 1:7, Laughter

In the days of her affliction and wandering 

Jerusalem remembers all the treasures that were hers in days of old. 

When her people fell into enemy hands, there was no one to help her. 

Her enemies looked at her and laughed at her destruction. 

Jerusalem remembers past treasures and beauties. She laments at the current affliction and the mocking laughter of her enemies.

Ellison (p. 697) says that chapters 1-4 are in the Qinah metre, a lament meter that is a long line of five beats, in a 3+2 pattern. Many of these verses consist of three lines in that meter, with loose parallelism. The only exceptions are this verse, with four lines, and 2:19, also with four lines. Is this an error in manuscript copying, with a line accidentally added? Or is this a deliberate, dramatic change by the author, much like changing the scale in a song?

Lamentations 1:8-9. Filthy garments

Jerusalem has sinned greatly and so has become unclean. 

All who honored her despise her, for they have all seen her naked; 

she herself groans and turns away. 

Her filthiness clung to her skirts; she did not consider her future. 

Her fall was astounding; there was none to comfort her. 

“Look, LORD, on my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed.” 

Jerusalem is portrayed as a dirty woman on the streets, with her menstrual blood ("filthiness") on her skirts. She in unprepared for this dramatic reversal in fortune. At the end of these six lines, the city asks for God to remember the her pain and the triumph of their enemy.

Lamentations 1:9b-10, Pagans in the sanctuary

The enemy laid hands on all her treasures; 

she saw pagan nations enter her sanctuary— 

those you had forbidden to enter your assembly. 

Not only has Jerusalem sinned, with idolatry and oppression, she is punished by having pagans enter her sanctuary, to the places where people used to worship YHWH.

Lamentations 1:11a, Starvation

All her people groan as they search for bread; 

they barter their treasures for food to keep themselves alive. 

The people trade treasures for food, so as to avoid starvation. This result of Nebuchadnezzar's siege is described briefly in 2 Kings 25:2-3. Some commentators suggest that the "treasures" here are children, as everything else would have been taken earlier. (A particularly brutal image of such a siege occurs in Deuteronomy 28:53-57.)

Lamentations 1:11b-12, Despised

“Look, LORD, and consider, for I am despised.” 

“Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see. 

Is any suffering like my suffering that was inflicted on me, 

that the LORD brought on me in the day of his fierce anger?

The text changes from third person to first person. Now Jerusalem, Lady Zion, speaks. No one else suffers as she does. YHWH's fierce anger is terrible. 

Lamentations 1:13-15, Fire, Yoke, Winepress

“From on high he sent fire, sent it down into my bones. 

He spread a net for my feet and turned me back. 

He made me desolate, faint all the day long. 

“My sins have been bound into a yoke; by his hands they were woven together. 

They have been hung on my neck, and the Lord has sapped my strength. 

He has given me into the hands of those I cannot withstand. 

“The Lord has rejected all the warriors in my midst; 

he has summoned an army against me to crush my young men. 

In his winepress the Lord has trampled Virgin Daughter Judah. 

Three metaphors carry these three verses. In the first there is fire (while caught in a net), then there is the yoke one might place on the necks of oxen, finally there is the red wine pouring out of a winepress, as the people, like grapes, are trampled down.

Lamentations 1:16-17, No one to comfort me

“This is why I weep and my eyes overflow with tears. 

No one is near to comfort me, no one to restore my spirit. 

My children are destitute because the enemy has prevailed.” 

Zion stretches out her hands, but there is no one to comfort her. 

The LORD has decreed for Jacob that his neighbors become his foes; 

Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them. 

Lonely Jerusalem weeps. No one is there to comfort her, even her children are destitute. Jerusalem is unclean and abandoned.

Lamentations 1:18-19, I rebelled

The LORD is righteous, yet I rebelled against his command. 

Listen, all you peoples; look on my suffering. 

My young men and young women have gone into exile. 

,

“I called to my allies but they betrayed me. 

My priests and my elders perished in the city 

while they searched for food to keep themselves alive. 

Jerusalem knows why she suffers. She rebelled against God. And so her young men and women are taken away to Babylon and her priest and elders die in the city ruins.

Lamentations 1:20-22a, Continued confession

“See, LORD, how distressed I am! I am in torment within, 

and in my heart I am disturbed, for I have been most rebellious.

 Outside, the sword bereaves; inside, there is only death. 

“People have heard my groaning, but there is no one to comfort me. 

All my enemies have heard of my distress; they rejoice at what you have done. 

Lady Zion continues her confession. She has been rebellious. Now she suffers. No one comforts her and her enemies rejoice.

Lamentations 1:21b-22, Please, deal with them too!

May you bring the day you have announced so they may become like me. 

“Let all their wickedness come before you; 

deal with them as you have dealt with me because of all my sins. 

My groans are many and my heart is faint.”

In these last lines there is a Jeremaic suggestion that her enemies may some day suffer like she has. But this is only a request for vengeance; there is not Jeremiah's confidence that a future judgment day will come.

Jeremiah 52, The Sack of Jerusalem (DRAFT)

(This DRAFT study has been done fairly quickly, without the further guide of commentaries. I hope to improve on it later.)

The previous chapter concluded the words of Jeremiah. Now we have a historical summary.

Much of the history in Jeremiah 52 overlaps with the history provided by II Kings 25, the last chapter of the scroll of Kings.

Jeremiah 52:1-3a, Zedekiah also evil

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother's name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, just as Jehoiakim had done. 

It was because of the LORD's anger that all this happened to Jerusalem and Judah, and in the end he thrust them from his presence. 

The scroll of Jeremiah will end with a recounting of the sack of Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 52:3b-9, Walls broken through

Now Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. So in the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army. They camped outside the city and built siege works all around it. The city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 

By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat. Then the city wall was broken through, and the whole army fled. They left the city at night through the gate between the two walls near the king's garden, though the Babylonians were surrounding the city. They fled toward the Arabah, but the Babylonian army pursued King Zedekiah and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered, and he was captured. 

He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced sentence on him. 

Nebuchadnezzar moves quickly to put down Zedekiah's revolt. He advanced on the city from the southwest, via the fortified town of Lachish. From this period, archaeologists have recovered, in Lachish, a large collection of texts, sometimes called the Lachish Letters. 

After months of siege, the city is in dire straits.  The king and his army attempt to break out of the siege but are captured.  We are given an exact date of the conquest, unusual for this book. This precise dating occurs in the next paragraph also.

Verses 3b-9  here are almost identical with 2 Kings 25:1-6.

Jeremiah 52:10-15, Punishment for Zedekiah

There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; he also killed all the officials of Judah. Then he put out Zedekiah's eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon, where he put him in prison till the day of his death. 

The king is brutally punished for his rebellion: his sons are murdered before his eyes (thus there will be no dynasty) and then his eyes are put out. 

This account is also covered in 2 Kings 25:7.

Jeremiah 52:12-16, A city destroyed

On the tenth day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He set fire to the temple of the LORD, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down. 

The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the imperial guard broke down all the walls around Jerusalem. Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile some of the poorest people and those who remained in the city, along with the rest of the craftsmen and those who had gone over to the king of Babylon.But Nebuzaradan left behind the rest of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields. 

Nebuzaradan sets fire to Jerusalem, breaks down the walls and transports out most of the populace.  Only the unimportant poor are left.

Verses 12-16 are almost identical with 2 Kings 25:8-12. (The passage in 2 Kings replaces the tenth day of the month with the seventh day.)

Jeremiah 52:17-23, Treasures carried off to Babylon

The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the movable stands and the bronze Sea that were at the temple of the LORD and they carried all the bronze to Babylon. They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes and all the bronze articles used in the temple service. The commander of the imperial guard took away the basins, censers, sprinkling bowls, pots, lampstands, dishes and bowls used for drink offerings--all that were made of pure gold or silver. The bronze from the two pillars, the Sea and the twelve bronze bulls under it, and the movable stands, which King Solomon had made for the temple of the LORD, was more than could be weighed. 

Each of the pillars was eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference; each was four fingers thick, and hollow.  The bronze capital on top of the one pillar was five cubits high and was decorated with a network and pomegranates of bronze all around. The other pillar, with its pomegranates, was similar.  There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; the total number of pomegranates above the surrounding network was a hundred. 

Solomon's beautiful temple is looted.  The items in it, including its large Sea, are taken away to Babylon. The First Temple period, initiated by the reigns of David and Solomon, is over.

Compare this destruction with the statements of YHWH at the dedication of Solomon's temple in II Chronicles 7: 19-22. The curses there, due to rejection of YHWH, have come to fruition.

Verses 17-23 are almost identical with 2 Kings 25:13-17,  with the exception that this text includes an addition sentence about 95 and 100 pomegranates.

Jeremiah 52:24-27, Priests executed

The commander of the guard took as prisoners Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank and the three doorkeepers. Of those still in the city, he took the officer in charge of the fighting men, and seven royal advisers. He also took the secretary who was chief officer in charge of conscripting the people of the land and sixty of his men who were found in the city. 

Nebuzaradan the commander took them all and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. There at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king had them executed. So Judah went into captivity, away from her land. 

The leaders, including the priests and doorkeepers to the temple, are taken away and executed.  In summary, "Judah went into captivity."  This event has been remembered with a deep feeling of loss for over two thousand years.

This section is identical with 2 Kings 25:18-21.

Jeremiah 52:28-34, Carried into exile

This is the number of the people Nebuchadnezzar carried into exile:

 in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews;  

in Nebuchadnezzar's eighteenth year, 

832 people from Jerusalem;

 in his twenty-third year, 

745 Jews taken into exile by Nebuzaradan

 the commander of the imperial guard. 

There were 4,600 people in all. 

In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Evil-Merodach became king of Babylon, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah and freed him from prison on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month. He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king's table. Day by day the king of Babylon gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived, till the day of his death.

The previous king, Jehoiachin, having been captured and taken to Babylon earlier, is released from prison and allowed to eat at the king's table. This occurs on the death of Nebuchadnezzar.

Verses 31-34, beginning with "In the thirty-seventh year..." are almost identical to 2 Kings 25:27-30, except here we have added the phrase, "till the day of his death."

The scroll of Jeremiah ends like the scroll of Kings, with the sack of Jerusalem and the exile to Babylon. The only good news is that YHWH has promised to remember His people and bring them backl

Jeremiah 51, Babylon Destroyed, II (DRAFT)

(This DRAFT study has been done fairly quickly, without the further guide of commentaries. I hope to improve on it later.)

Past chapters had messages for the various nations around Judah and the chapter before this focused on Babylon. 

Jeremiah 51:1-5, Israel not forsaken

This is what the LORD says: 

"See, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer against Babylon

 and the people of Leb Kamai.

I will send foreigners to Babylon to winnow her 

and to devastate her land; 

they will oppose her on every side

 in the day of her disaster. 

Let not the archer string his bow, 

nor let him put on his armor. 

Do not spare her young men; 

completely destroy her army. 

They will fall down slain in Babylon,

fatally wounded in her streets. 

For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken

 by their God, the LORD Almighty, 

though their land is full of guilt 

before the Holy One of Israel. 

Although Babylon has devastated Israel (both northern and southern kingdoms), she is not forgotten and Babylon will be punished.

Chaldea is the Hebrew word for Babylon; Leb Kamai is an Atbash code for Chaldea. (See the Atbash cypher.)

Jeremiah 51:6-8, Flee!

"Flee from Babylon! Run for your lives! 

Do not be destroyed because of her sins.

 It is time for the LORD's vengeance; 

he will pay her what she deserves. 

 Babylon was a gold cup in the LORD's hand; 

she made the whole earth drunk. 

The nations drank her wine; 

therefore they have now gone mad. 

Babylon will suddenly fall and be broken. 

Wail over her! 

Get balm for her pain; 

perhaps she can be healed. 

The people of Babylonia will be refugees, running from war and bloodshed, running from the wine spilling from the cup of wrath.

Jeremiah 51:9-13, She cannot be healed.

"`We would have healed Babylon, 

but she cannot be healed;

 let us leave her and each go to his own land,

 for her judgment reaches to the skies, 

it rises as high as the clouds.' 

"`The LORD has vindicated us; 

come, let us tell in Zion what the LORD our God has done.' 

"Sharpen the arrows, take up the shields! 

The LORD has stirred up the kings of the Medes, 

because his purpose is to destroy Babylon. 

The LORD will take vengeance,

 vengeance for his temple. 

Lift up a banner against the walls of Babylon! 

Reinforce the guard, 

station the watchmen, 

prepare an ambush! 

The LORD will carry out his purpose, 

his decree against the people of Babylon. 

You who live by many waters 

and are rich in treasures,

 your end has come, 

the time for you to be cut off. 

Babylon cannot be healed and all that is left for her is judgment.

Jeremiah 51:14-16, Heavens roar

The LORD Almighty has sworn by himself: 

I will surely fill you with men, 

as with a swarm of locusts, 

and they will shout in triumph over you. 

"He made the earth by his power; 

he founded the world by his wisdom 

and stretched out the heavens by his understanding. 

When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar;

 he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. 

He sends lightning with the rain 

and brings out the wind from his storehouses. 

The Creator will fill Babylon with enemy soldiers.

Jeremiah 51:17-19, Knowledge

"Every man is senseless and without knowledge; 

every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. 

His images are a fraud; 

they have no breath in them. 

They are worthless, the objects of mockery; 

when their judgment comes, they will perish. 

He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these,

 for he is the Maker of all things,

 including the tribe of his inheritance-- 

the LORD Almighty is his name. 

The makers of idols have no knowledge; they are fools and frauds. This is contrasted with the wisdom of God, the Maker of the universe.

Jeremiah 51:20-23, With you I shatter...

"You are my war club, my weapon for battle-- 

with you I shatter nations, with you I destroy kingdoms, 

 with you I shatter horse and rider, 

with you I shatter chariot and driver, 

with you I shatter man and woman, 

with you I shatter old man and youth,

 with you I shatter young man and maiden, 

with you I shatter shepherd and flock, 

with you I shatter farmer and oxen, 

with you I shatter governors and officials. 

With YHWH, Israel wins, shattering everything in her way. The repetitive parallel lines are unusual in this text, quite different from the other poetry.

Jeremiah 51:24-26, Burned out mountain

"Before your eyes I will repay Babylon and all who live in Babylonia for all the wrong they have done in Zion," declares the LORD. 

"I am against you, O destroying mountain,

 you who destroy the whole earth," 

declares the LORD. 

"I will stretch out my hand against you, 

roll you off the cliffs,

 and make you a burned-out mountain. 

No rock will be taken from you for a cornerstone,

 nor any stone for a foundation, 

for you will be desolate forever," 

declares the LORD. 

The passage uses moutains, rocks and cliffs for its metaphors. The powerful mountain will be burned out and rolled off a cliff. It will be so broken up thast it cannot be a cornerstone or part of s foundation.

Jeremiah 51:27-28, Summon the nations

"Lift up a banner in the land! 

Blow the trumpet among the nations!

 Prepare the nations for battle against her; 

summon against her these kingdoms: Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz. 

Appoint a commander against her; 

send up horses like a swarm of locusts. 

Prepare the nations for battle against her--

 the kings of the Medes, 

their governors and all their officials, 

and all the countries they rule. 

The nations around Babylon are called out to attack her.

Jeremiah 51:29-32, Babylon exhausted

The land trembles and writhes,

 for the LORD's purposes against Babylon stand--

 to lay waste the land of Babylon 

so that no one will live there. 

Babylon's warriors have stopped fighting;

 they remain in their strongholds. 

Their strength is exhausted; 

they have become like women. 

Her dwellings are set on fire; 

the bars of her gates are broken. 

One courier follows another 

and messenger follows messenger 

to announce to the king of Babylon

 that his entire city is captured, 

the river crossings seized, 

the marshes set on fire, 

and the soldiers terrified." 

Defenders of Babylon are exhausted, beaten, captured.

Jeremiah 51:33-35, Trampling the trampler

This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 

"The Daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor

 at the time it is trampled;

 the time to harvest her will soon come." 

"Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured us,

 he has thrown us into confusion,

 he has made us an empty jar.

 Like a serpent he has swallowed us 

and filled his stomach with our delicacies, 

and then has spewed us out.

 May the violence done to our flesh be upon Babylon,"

 say the inhabitants of Zion. 

"May our blood be on those who live in Babylonia," 

says Jerusalem. 

Jerusalem, destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, looks forward to Nebuchadnezzar receiving the same punishment.

Jeremiah 51:36-41, A feast for predators

Therefore, this is what the LORD says: 

"See, I will defend your cause and avenge you; 

I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry. 

Babylon will be a heap of ruins, 

a haunt of jackals,

 an object of horror and scorn,

 a place where no one lives. 

Her people all roar like young lions,

 they growl like lion cubs. 

But while they are aroused, 

I will set out a feast for them

 and make them drunk, 

so that they shout with laughter-- 

then sleep forever and not awake," 

declares the LORD. 

"I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, 

like rams and goats. 

"How Sheshach will be captured, 

the boast of the whole earth seized! 

What a horror Babylon will be among the nations!

Someday Babylon will be a feast for other predators.

Jeremiah 51:42-44, Chaotic seas

The sea will rise over Babylon; 

its roaring waves will cover her. 

Her towns will be desolate, 

a dry and desert land, a

 land where no one lives, 

through which no man travels.

 I will punish Bel in Babylon 

and make him spew out what he has swallowed. 

The nations will no longer stream to him. 

And the wall of Babylon will fall. 

Now the metaphor is the chaotic sea, washing over Babylon, flooding the streets. 

Jeremiah 51:45-48, Run for your lives

"Come out of her, my people! 

Run for your lives! 

Run from the fierce anger of the LORD. 

Do not lose heart 

or be afraid when rumors are heard in the land;

 one rumor comes this year, 

another the next, 

rumors of violence in the land 

and of ruler against ruler. 

For the time will surely come 

when I will punish the idols of Babylon;

 her whole land will be disgraced 

and her slain will all lie fallen within her. 

Then heaven and earth and all that is in them 

will shout for joy over Babylon, 

for out of the north destroyers will attack her," 

declares the LORD. 

As the Babylonians flee, heaven, earth (and all the defeated nations) shout for joy.

Jeremiah 51:49-53, Jerusalem ashamed

"Babylon must fall because of Israel's slain, 

just as the slain in all the earth have fallen 

because of Babylon. 

You who have escaped the sword,

 leave and do not linger! 

Remember the LORD in a distant land, 

and think on Jerusalem." 

"We are disgraced,

 for we have been insulted 

and shame covers our faces,

 because foreigners have entered the holy places of the LORD's house."

 "But days are coming," declares the LORD, 

"when I will punish her idols, 

and throughout her land the wounded will groan. 

Even if Babylon reaches the sky 

and fortifies her lofty stronghold, 

I will send destroyers against her," 

declares the LORD. 

The people of Jerusalem are ashamed. In a distant land they long for their old home. They are disgraced, insulted. And the temple is desecrated by pagans entering the holy places.

Jeremiah 51:54-57, Repay in full

"The sound of a cry comes from Babylon,

 the sound of great destruction from the land of the Babylonians. 

The LORD will destroy Babylon; 

he will silence her noisy din. 

Waves [of enemies] will rage like great waters; 

the roar of their voices will resound. 

A destroyer will come against Babylon; 

her warriors will be captured, 

and their bows will be broken. 

For the LORD is a God of retribution; 

he will repay in full. 

I will make her officials and wise men drunk, 

her governors, officers and warriors as well;

 they will sleep forever and not awake," 

declares the King, whose name is the LORD Almighty. 

Babylonia will be overwhelmed. Her leaders will sleep and not wake up.

Jeremiah 51:58, Thick walls in flame

This is what the LORD Almighty says: 

"Babylon's thick wall will be leveled 

and her high gates set on fire;

 the peoples exhaust themselves for nothing, 

the nations' labor is only fuel for the flames." 

The thick walls of Babylon will not serve her.

Jeremiah 51:59-64, Scroll handed off

This is the message Jeremiah gave to the staff officer Seraiah son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went to Babylon with Zedekiah king of Judah in the fourth year of his reign. Jeremiah had written on a scroll about all the disasters that would come upon Babylon--all that had been recorded concerning Babylon. 

He said to Seraiah, "When you get to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud. Then say, 

`O LORD, you have said you will destroy this place, so that neither man nor animal will live in it; it will be desolate forever.' When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates. Then say, `So will Babylon sink to rise no more because of the disaster I will bring upon her. And her people will fall.'" 

The words of Jeremiah end here. 

The long prophecy against Babylon ends the speeches of Jeremiah and the scroll is given to a staff officer for preservation. It is to be read aloud in Babylon. There the people are to be told that eventually Babylon will be destroyed. 

There is one more chapter to go in this book -- a historical summary of the end of Jerusalem.