Jeremiah - 52:1



1 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Jeremiah 52:1.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
Sedecias was one and twenty years old when he began to reign: and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and the name of his mother was Amital, the daughter of Jerernias of Lobna.
A son of twenty and one years is Zedekiah in his reigning, and eleven years he hath reigned in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother is Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king; he was king for eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
Viginti et unius anni erat Sedechias quando regnavit, et undecim annis regnavit in Jerusalem, et nomen matris ejus Hamutal filia Jeremiae de Libnah.

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

Jeremiah. 52 is an historical appendix to the Book of Jeremiah, giving details of the capture of Babylon additional to those contained in Jeremiah. 39: The last words of the foregoing chapter affirm that Jeremiah was not the author, and the view adopted by most commentators is, that this chapter is taken from the 2nd Book of Kings, but that the person who added it here had access to other valuable documents, and made several modifications in it, the principal being the substituation of the account of those led captive by Nebuchadnezzar Jeremiah 52:28-30, for the narrative given in 2-Kings 25:22-26, where see the notes.

Zedekiah was one and twenty years old - See 2-Kings 24:18.

Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign,.... Whose name was Mattaniah; and who was set on the throne by the king of Babylon, in the room of his brother's son Jehoiachin, 2-Kings 24:17;
and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; so that he was thirty two years of age when he was taken and carried captive into Babylon:
and his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah; see 2-Kings 24:18.

This fruit of sin we should pray against above any thing; Cast me not away from thy presence, Psalm 51:11. None are cast out of God's presence but those who by sin have first thrown themselves out. Zedekiah's flight was in vain, for there is no escaping the judgments of God; they come upon the sinner, and overtake him, let him flee where he will.

Fate of King Zedekiah at the taking of Jerusalem; cf. 2-Kings 24:18; 2-Kings 25:7, and Jeremiah 39:1-7. The statements regarding Zedekiah's ascension and his government, Jeremiah 52:1-3, agree word for word with 2-Kings 24:18-20, even to the variation השׁליכו, Jeremiah 52:3, for השׁליכו (Kings). The length of the siege of Jerusalem, Jeremiah 52:4-7, and the flight, capture, and condemnation of King Zedekiah and the princes of Judah, Jeremiah 52:7-11, not only agrees with 2-Kings 25:1-7, but also with Jeremiah 39:1-7, where it is merely the forcible entrance into the city by the Chaldeans that receives special detail; see on Jeremiah 39:3. The variation ויּחנוּ, Jeremiah 52:4, instead of ויּחן (2-Kings 25:1), does not affect the sense. As to the account given of the flight, capture, and condemnation of the king, both Jeremiah 39 and 2 Kings omit the notices given in Jeremiah 52:10, "and also all the princes of Judah he caused to be slain (i.e., executed) at Riblah," and in Jeremiah 52:11, "and he put him in the prison-house till the day of his death." בּית־הפּקדּות has been rendered οἰκία μυλῶνος by the lxx; on this fact Hitzig bases the opinion that the Hebrew words signify "the house of punishment," or "the house of correction," in which Zedekiah was obliged to turn the mill like other culprits, and as Samson was once obliged to do (Judges 16:21). But this meaning of the words cannot be substantiated. פּקדּה means "oversight, mustering, or visitation (Heimsuchung), or vengeance," e.g., Isaiah 10:3, but not punishment (Strafe), and the plural, "watches" (Ezekiel 9:1) and "custody," Ezek. 54:11; hence the expression used here signifies "the house of custody," or "the house of the watches." The translation of the lxx can decide nothing against this, because their interpretation is based upon traditions which are themselves unfounded. Regarding this, Ewald well remarks (History of the People of Israel, iii. p. 748 of 2nd ed.): "That Zedekiah must have laboured at the mill, as is mentioned in later chronicles (see Aug. Mai, Scriptorum veterum nova collectio, t. i. P. 2, p. 6; cf. Chr. Sam. Ch. xlv.), is probably a mere inference from Lamentations 5:13."

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