Jeremiah 52 is the fifty-second (and the last) chapter of the Book of Jeremiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains prophecies attributed to the prophet Jeremiah, and is one of the Books of the Prophets. This chapter contains a "historical appendix", matching (with some supplementary material) the account in 24:18-25:30 of the end of national life in Judah,[1] and also serving as a vindication of Jeremiah's message.
The original text was written in Hebrew. This chapter is divided into 34 verses.
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets (916), Aleppo Codex (10th century), Codex Leningradensis (1008).
There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint (with a different chapter and verse numbering), made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B;
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The order of chapters and verses of the Book of Jeremiah in the English Bibles, Masoretic Text (Hebrew), and Vulgate (Latin), in some places differs from that in the Septuagint (LXX, the Greek Bible used in the Eastern Orthodox Church and others) according to Rahlfs or Brenton. The following table is taken with minor adjustments from Brenton's Septuagint, page 971.[2]
The order of Computer Assisted Tools for Septuagint/Scriptural Study (CATSS) based on Rahlfs' Septuaginta (1935) differs in some details from Joseph Ziegler's critical edition (1957) in Göttingen LXX. Swete's Introduction mostly agrees with Rahlfs' edition (=CATSS).[2]
| Hebrew, Vulgate, English | Rahlfs' LXX (CATSS) | |
|---|---|---|
| 52:1,4-14,16-27,31-34 | 52:1,4-14,16-27,31-34 | |
| 52:2-3,15,28-30 | n/a |
The parashah sections listed here are based on the Aleppo Codex.[3] Jeremiah 52 contains the narrative of "Destruction and Hope". : open parashah; : closed parashah.
52:1-23 52:24-27 52:28-30 52:31-34
O'Connor notes six vignettes in this chapter:
Zedekiah reigned as king of Judah 597-587 BCE.
For because of the anger of the this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, till He finally cast them out from His presence.
Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.[4] The contemporary religious situation in Judah is described in Ezekiel 8.
The siege of Jerusalem lasted from January 587 BCE to August 586 BCE (cf. 39:4-5 KJV).
Now it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around.[5]
And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.[7]
Then the city wall was broken through, and all the men of war fled and went out of the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden, even though the Chaldeans were near the city all around. And they went by way of the plain.[9]
But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.[11]
He also put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in bronze fetters, took him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.[13] Cross references: ;
Now in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month (which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.[15]
The calamity surrounding the fall of Jerusalem (and the burning of the Solomon's Temple) is commemorated in modern times Judaism by an annual fast day "Tisha B'Av".[16] [17]
Now it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, that Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison.[18]
And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a more prominent seat than those of the kings who were with him in Babylon.[19]
So Jehoiachin changed from his prison garments, and he ate bread regularly before the king all the days of his life.[20]
And as for his provisions, there was a regular ration given him by the king of Babylon, a portion for each day until the day of his death, all the days of his life.[21]