Jeremiah 39:1-18
39 In the ninth year of Zed·e·kiʹah the king of Judah, in the tenth month,+ Neb·u·chad·rezʹzar the king of Babylon and all his military force came to Jerusalem and began to lay siege to it.+
2 In the eleventh year of Zed·e·kiʹah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the city was broken through.+
3 And all the princes of the king of Babylon proceeded to come in and sit down in the Middle Gate,+ [namely,] Nerʹgal-shar·eʹzer, Samʹgar-neʹbo, Sarʹse·chim, Rabʹsa·ris,* Nerʹgal-shar·eʹzer the Rabʹmag* and all the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon.
4 Now it came about that as soon as Zed·e·kiʹah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, they began to run away+ and to go out by night from the city by the way of the garden of the king,+ by the gate between the double wall; and they kept going out by the way of the Arʹa·bah.*+
5 And a military force of the Chal·deʹans went chasing after them,+ and they got to overtake Zed·e·kiʹah in the desert plains of Jerʹi·cho.+ Then they took him and brought him up to Neb·u·chad·rezʹzar the king of Babylon at Ribʹlah+ in the land of Haʹmath+ that he might pronounce upon him judicial decisions.+
6 And the king of Babylon proceeded to slaughter+ the sons of Zed·e·kiʹah in Ribʹlah before his eyes,+ and all the nobles of Judah the king of Babylon slaughtered.+
7 And the eyes of Zed·e·kiʹah he blinded,+ after which he bound him with copper fetters, in order to bring him to Babylon.
8 And the house of the king and the houses of the people the Chal·deʹans burned with fire,+ and the walls of Jerusalem they pulled down.+
9 And the rest of the people who were left remaining in the city, and the deserters that had fallen away to him, and the rest of the people who were left remaining Neb·uʹzar·adʹan+ the chief of the bodyguard+ took into exile to Babylon.+
10 And some of the people, the lowly ones who had nothing at all, Neb·uʹzar·adʹan the chief of the bodyguard let remain in the land of Judah;+ and he went on to give them vineyards and compulsory services on that day.+
11 Furthermore, Neb·u·chad·rezʹzar the king of Babylon gave command concerning Jeremiah by means of Neb·uʹzar·adʹan the chief of the bodyguard, saying:
12 “Take him and keep your own eyes set upon him, and do not do to him anything bad at all.+ But just as he may speak to you, so do with him.”+
13 Accordingly Neb·uʹzar·adʹan+ the chief of the bodyguard and Neb·u·shazʹban the Rabʹsa·ris,* and Nerʹgal-shar·eʹzer the Rabʹmag and all the principal men* of the king of Babylon sent;
14 they even proceeded to send and take Jeremiah out of the Courtyard of the Guard+ and give him over to Ged·a·liʹah+ the son of A·hiʹkam+ the son of Shaʹphan,+ in order to bring him forth to [his] house, that he might dwell in the midst of the people.
15 And to Jeremiah the word of Jehovah occurred while he happened to be shut up in the Courtyard of the Guard,+ saying:
16 “Go, and you must say to Eʹbed-melʹech+ the E·thi·oʹpi·an, ‘This is what Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, has said: “Here I am bringing true my words upon this city for calamity and not for good,+ and they will certainly happen before you in that day.”’+
17 “‘And I will deliver you in that day,’+ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘and you will not be given into the hand of the men of whom you yourself are scared.’+
18 “‘For I shall without fail furnish you an escape, and by the sword you will not fall; and you will certainly come to have your soul as a spoil,+ because you have trusted in me,’+ is the utterance of Jehovah.”
Footnotes
^ Or, “the chief court official; the chief attendant.” Heb., Rav-sa·risʹ.
^ Or, “the chief magician (soothsayer; astrologer); the chief of the great ones.” Heb., Rav-maghʹ.
^ Or, “the desert plain.”
^ See vs 3 ftn, “Rabsaris.”
^ Or, “the chiefs of.” Heb., rab·behʹ.
