Jeremiah · chapter 39 of 52
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Jeremiah 39 narrates the fall of Jerusalem in the eleventh year of Zedekiah. The Babylonians breach the wall, the king flees but is caught near Jericho, and at Riblah Nebuchadnezzar kills his sons before his eyes and blinds him. The city is burned, the people are taken into exile, Jeremiah is set free and Ebed-melech receives God's promise.
This chapter fulfills what Jeremiah announced for forty years. After a siege of about eighteen months, the city many thought unassailable falls. The account is brief and plain, and corresponds to 2 Kings 25 and Jeremiah 52. More than a tale of military victory, it is the confirmation that God's word comes to pass.
In the ninth year of Zedekiah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar and all his army come against Jerusalem and besiege it. In the eleventh year, in the fourth month, on the ninth day, a breach is made in the city. The officials of the king of Babylon come in and sit in the Middle Gate, among them Nergal-sharezer and Nebo-sarsekim.
When Zedekiah and all the soldiers see them, they flee by night by way of the king's garden, through the gate between the two walls, toward the Arabah. But the Chaldean army pursues them and overtakes the king in the plains of Jericho. They bring him to Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he passes sentence on him. Before Zedekiah's eyes he kills his sons and all the nobles of Judah, and then puts out the king's eyes and binds him in bronze fetters to take him to Babylon.
The Chaldeans burn the king's house and the houses of the people, and break down the walls of Jerusalem. Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, carries off to Babylon the rest of the people who remained in the city and those who had deserted to him, but leaves in the land of Judah some of the poorest, and gives them vineyards and fields. Nebuchadnezzar gives orders about Jeremiah: to look after him and do him no harm. They take him out of the court of the guard and entrust him to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, to live among the people.
The chapter ends with a word of the Lord to Ebed-melech, given while Jeremiah was in the court of the guard: he will fulfill his word against the city, but on that day he will rescue him, and he will not be given into the hands of those he fears, because he trusted in the Lord.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day, the breach is made in the city. After months of hunger and pressure the wall gives way, and what Jeremiah announced stops being a warning and becomes a fact.
At Riblah the king of Babylon kills Zedekiah's sons before his eyes and then blinds him. The last thing Zedekiah sees is the death of his sons: the price of not listening to God's word was terrible.
Nebuchadnezzar orders Nebuzaradan to look after Jeremiah and do him no harm. God uses a pagan king to protect his prophet: the man treated as a traitor by his own people receives the respect of the conqueror.
The Lord promises Ebed-melech that he will deliver him and that his life will be his prize of war because he trusted in him. The Cushite's faith is rewarded: not an easy life, but salvation in the day of disaster.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: In the eleventh year, in the fourth month, on the ninth day. — Jeremiah 39:2
Answer: In the plains of Jericho, as he fled by night. — Jeremiah 39:4-5
Answer: The king of Babylon killed them at Riblah, before his eyes. — Jeremiah 39:6
Answer: They burned the king's house and the houses of the people and broke down the walls. — Jeremiah 39:8
Answer: To Gedaliah son of Ahikam, so Jeremiah could live among the people. — Jeremiah 39:13-14
Answer: To deliver him when the city falls, because he trusted in the Lord. — Jeremiah 39:17-18
Jeremiah 39 is a hard chapter, showing the consequences of ignoring God for years. Every warning was an opportunity, and in the end the city fell. In a small group you can talk about warnings you have received, from God, from your conscience or from wise people, and let pass.
But there is also light: God cares for those who trust him, like Jeremiah and Ebed-melech, in the middle of disaster. He does not promise to prevent the crisis, but he does promise to be with them. Thank God for his faithfulness in hard times and ask him to strengthen your trust in him in what you do not understand.
The fall of Jerusalem was the darkest moment of the Old Testament, but not the end of God's story with his people. In chapter 40 Jeremiah lives among those left in the land, under the governor Gedaliah.
According to the most widely accepted chronology, in 586 BC, though some scholars propose 587 BC. The text places it in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, when Babylon breached the wall after a siege of about eighteen months.
Because the text shows that not all the people were deported. The poorest, who owned nothing, were given vineyards and fields, and that prepares the account of Gedaliah and those who gathered at Mizpah in the following chapters.