Tyndale Open Study NotesJeremiah 52

This chapter retells the story from 2 Kings 24:18–25:30, describing Jerusalem's last month, with some added details and changes. Repeating this passage highlights Jeremiah's honesty as a true prophet of God. Everything Jeremiah predicted about the city's destruction and the end of Judah's kingdom happened. Similarly, his predictions about the Exile, the hardships of the survivors in Babylon, and their return also came true.

Riblah, which Jeremiah noted as being in the land of Hamath (see Jeremiah 39:5), was several hundred miles north of Jerusalem.

He also killed all the officials of Judah at Riblah: This adds to the story in 2 Kings 25:7. While the soldiers abandoned Zedekiah as they fled to Jericho (Jeremiah 52:8), the officials stayed with him.

The last sentence of the verse is an addition to the text of 2 Kings 25.

• This section provides details not in 2 Kings 25. The Babylonians took great wealth by stealing all the precious metals from the Temple before burning it.

• The Babylonian looters broke large metal items into pieces to load them onto wagons and transport them.

• Each pillar was eighteen cubits tall and twelve cubits in circumference; each was hollow, four fingers thick: These words are added to the 2 Kings 25 text.

On the tenth day of the fifth month: This date is three days later than the one in 2 Kings 25:8. The reason for this difference is unknown.

He burned down the house of the LORD: The Temple was mainly stone, but cedar beams were between the stones. Cedar panels covered the walls, and cypress planks were on the floors. Wood was also used for window frames and doors (see 1 Kings 6). All this wood burned.

some of the poorest people: Jeremiah included this phrase (see 2 Kings 25:11) and replaced "population" with "craftsmen."

This section provides a more detailed list of Temple furnishings than 1 Kings 6:1–38.

Jeremiah included the phrase and twelve cubits in circumference in the last sentence (see 2 Kings 25:17).

Jeremiah included this verse, which is not in 2 Kings 25 (see study note on Jeremiah 52:1–34).

seven: The parallel in 2 Kings 25:18 says "five."

The numbers in these verses add to the information in 2 Kings 24:14–16 about the exile in 597 BC. The deportation in Jeremiah 52:30 is not mentioned elsewhere in the Bible. It was likely a Babylonian response to Gedaliah’s murder (Jeremiah 41:1–3). This suggests that the person or people who made this adaptation lived after 581 BC, probably in Babylon.

The account in 2 Kings 24:12–14 says this event happened in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighth year. This difference shows two ancient Near Eastern ways of counting a king’s reign. In 2 Kings, the year Nebuchadnezzar became king is considered his first year. Jeremiah seems to count the first full year as Nebuchadnezzar’s first year.

The eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar was 586 BC, the year when Jerusalem was destroyed.

• This paragraph repeats 2 Kings 25:27–30. It shows how Jeremiah's prediction about Jehoiachin's future comes true (see Jeremiah 22:24–30).

• Evil-merodach ruled Babylon from 561 to 560 BC. Inscriptions found in a basement near Babylon’s Ishtar Gate mention food rations given to Jehoiachin and his family.