Jeremiah 39 is the thirty-ninth chapter of the Book of Jeremiah in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Old Testament of the Christian

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

. It is numbered as Jeremiah 46 in the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...

. This book contains prophecies attributed to the

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

Jeremiah Jeremiah, Modern: , Tiberian: ; el, Ἰερεμίας, Ieremíās; meaning " Yah shall raise" (c. 650 – c. 570 BC), also called Jeremias or the "weeping prophet", was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewi ...

, and is one of the

Books of the Prophets Nevi'im (; he, נְבִיאִים ''Nəvīʾīm'', Tiberian: ''Năḇīʾīm,'' "Prophets", literally "spokespersons") is the second major division of the Hebrew Bible (the ''Tanakh''), lying between the Torah (instruction) and Ketuvim (wri ...

. This chapter is part of a narrative section consisting of chapters 37 to 44.The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, Augmented Third Edition, New Revised Standard Version, Indexed. Michael D. Coogan, Marc Brettler, Carol A. Newsom, Editors. Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 2007. pp. 1137 Hebrew Bible. Chapter 39 records the fall of

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, verses 1–10, and Jeremiah's fate, verses 11–18.

Text

The original text was written in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. This chapter is divided into 18 verses.

Verse numbering

The order of chapters and verses of the Book of Jeremiah in the English Bibles, Masoretic Text (Hebrew), and

Vulgate The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels u ...

(Latin), in some places differs from that in the

(LXX, the Greek Bible used in the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops vi ...

and others) according to Rahlfs or Brenton. The following table is taken with minor adjustments from ''Brenton's Septuagint'', page 971.CCEL - Brenton Jeremiah Appendix
The order of Computer Assisted Tools for Septuagint/Scriptural Study (CATSS) based on '' Alfred 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).

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in

are of the

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...

tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets (916), Aleppo Codex (10th century),

Codex Leningradensis The Leningrad Codex ( la, Codex Leningradensis [Leningrad Book]; he, כתב יד לנינגרד) is the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible in Hebrew, using the Masoretic Text and Tiberian vocalization. According to its colopho ...

(1008). There is also a translation into

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

known as the

(with a different chapter and verse numbering), made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the

version include

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

(B;

\mathfrak

^B; 4th century),

Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus ( Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), designated by siglum [Aleph] or 01 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 2 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscript ...

(S; BHK:

\mathfrak

^S; 4th century),

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII), designated by the siglum A or 02 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 4 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a manu ...

(A;

\mathfrak

^A; 5th century) and

Codex Marchalianus Codex Marchalianus designated by siglum Q is a 6th-century Greek manuscript copy of the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh or Old Testament) known as the Septuagint. The text was written on vellum in uncial letters. Palaeographically it ...

(Q;

\mathfrak

^Q; 6th century). The Septuagint version does not contain the part what is generally known to be verses 4–13 in Christian Bibles.

Parashot

The '' parashah'' sections listed here are based on the Aleppo Codex. Jeremiah 39 is a part of the "''Fifteenth prophecy ( Jeremiah 36-39)''" in the section of ''Prophecies interwoven with narratives about the prophet's life (

Jeremiah 26 Jeremiah 26 is the twenty-sixth chapter of the Book of Jeremiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.Halley, Henry H. ''Halley's Bible Handbook'': An Abbreviated Bible Commentary. 23rd edition. Zondervan Publishing ...

-45)''. : open ''parashah''; : closed ''parashah''. : 38:28b39:1-14 והיה כאשר 39:15-18

Old Testament references

* Jeremiah 39:1–10: ; Jeremiah 39
Berean Study Bible

Analysis

Chronologically and thematically this chapter is a continuation of the previous one, describing Babylon's invasion of Jerusalem and its consequences, particularly for Zedekiah () and Jeremiah (). The narrative places the invasion as background to larger issues (cf. and ), as the focus is more on the Zedekiah's cowardly behavior, escape, and capture ( verses 4– 5) under the fulfillment of the prophecy, with the ending of the king being blinded, physically as already spiritually. On the other hand, Jeremiah simultaneously obtains release and protection from Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, at the command of Nebuchadrezzar () and then under the protection of

Gedaliah Gedaliah, Gedalia, Gedallah Hirsch, E. G. and Greenstone, J. H. (1906)Gedallah Jewish Encyclopedia or Gedalya(h) ( or ; he, גְּדַלְיָּה ''Gəḏalyyā'' or ''Gəḏalyyāhū'', meaning "Jah has become Great") was, according to the na ...

, the governor appointed by Babylon, and son of Ahikam (cf. Jeremiah 26:24). This signifies the fulfillment of another prophecy that by submitting to Babylon, people could save their lives as the prize of war and returned home (). The episode with Ebed-melech, the

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

n rescuer of Jeremiah (), further emphasizes the fulfillment of the divine message (Jeremiah 38:7-13) about his life as a prize of war because he trusted in YHWH ().

The Fall of Jerusalem (39:1–10)

Verses 1– 3 detail the events of the Babylonian invasion to Jerusalem from the ninth to the eleventh year of

Zedekiah Zedekiah (), was the 20th and last king of Judah before the destruction of the kingdom by King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. His birth name was Mattaniah/Mattanyahu ( he, מַתַּנְיָהוּ, ''Mattanyāhū'', "Gift of God"; el, Μαθ� ...

when finally the city was captured, occupied and destroyed by the Babylonian army. focus on Zedekiah's failed effort to escape and the fulfillment of the prophecy that Zedekiah's offspring were killed in front of him before he himself was blinded and taken to captivity. The houses of Jerusalem were burned and people were exiled, except the poor ones who remained and given their land back by Nebuzaradan, the Babylonian captain of the guard ().

Verse 1

: ''In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem, and besieged it.'' Cross reference: ; ; "The ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month" refers to January 587 BCE. , Jeremiah 52:4 and provide the date as "the tenth day of the month".

Verse 2

: ''And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up.'' Cross reference: ; *"The city was broken up" (KJV); "the city was penetrated" (NKJV): An alternative translation would be "... the city wall was breached". "The eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month" refers to July 586 BCE: the wall of Jerusalem "was broken through" after 18 months of siege, and the city fell after completely devoid of food. Cannibalism became prevalent (; ).

Verse 3

:''All the officials of the king of Babylon entered and sat at the Middle Gate: Nergal-sharezer, Samgar, Nebusarsechim the Rab-saris, Nergal-sharezer the Rab-mag, and all the rest of the officials of Babylon’s king.'' The

Jerusalem Bible ''The Jerusalem Bible'' (JB or TJB) is an English translation of the Bible published in 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd. As a Catholic Bible, it includes 73 books: the 39 books shared with the Hebrew Bible, along with the seven deuterocanonica ...

merges the last part of Jeremiah 38:28 with verse 3: ''Now when Jerusalem was captured … all the officers of the King of Babylon marched in...'' The

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

commentator

Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki ( he, רבי שלמה יצחקי; la, Salomon Isaacides; french: Salomon de Troyes, 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (see below), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a compre ...

considered the statement "''All the officials of the king of Babylon entered and sat at the Middle Gate''" as the fulfillment of the prophecy, "''They shall come and each one set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem''" in Jeremiah 1:15. Various language versions have rendered the list of names differently: *"Nebusarsechim Rab-saris" (Hebrew: נבו שר־סכים רב־סריס): David Vanderhooft reported, "A certain Nabû-šarrūssu-ukīn held the office of rēš šarri under Amel-Marduk in 561 B.C.E." A tablet was unearthed in the ancient city of

Sippar Sippar ( Sumerian: , Zimbir) was an ancient Near Eastern Sumerian and later Babylonian city on the east bank of the Euphrates river. Its '' tell'' is located at the site of modern Tell Abu Habbah near Yusufiyah in Iraq's Baghdad Governorate, som ...

in the 1870s and acquired by the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

in 1920, but only being discovered by Michael Jursa of

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hist ...

in 2000s, to contain both the name and the title ''Nabu-sharrussu-ukin rab ša-rēši'' closely matched of this person. As the tablet is dated just eight years before the events described here, Jursa wrote that the rarity of the Babylonian name, the high rank of the ''rab ša-rēši'' and the close proximity in time make it almost certain that the person mentioned on the tablet is identical with the biblical figure. * "Samgar" or "Simmagir"; " Rab-saris"; and " Rab-mag" are "titles of Babylonian officials" according to the New Oxford Annotated Bible.

Verse 4

:''So it was, when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, that they fled and went out of the city by night, by way of the king's garden, by the gate between the two walls. And he went out by way of the plain.'' *Cross references: 2 Kings 25:4; Jeremiah 52:7; Ezekiel 12:12 *"The king’s garden": mentioned in Nehemiah 3:15 in conjunction with the

pool of Siloam The term Pool of Siloam ( ar, بركه سلوان, he, בריכת השילוח, ''Breikhat HaShiloah'') ( gr, Σιλωάμ) refers to a number of Rock-cut architecture, rock-cut pools on the southern slope of the City of David (Silwan), Wadi Hilw ...

and 'the stairs that go down from the City of David', which point to the southern part of the city near the

Tyropoeon Valley Tyropoeon Valley (Greek: i.e., "Valley of the Cheesemakers") is the name given by Josephus the historianWars 5.140 to the valley or rugged ravine, in the Old City of Jerusalem, which in ancient times separated Mount Moriah from Mount Zion and em ...

. The location supports the reference to the "two walls," which were likely 'the walls on the eastern and western hills'. *"The plain": or "Arabah; the Jordan valley", which is the 'rift valley' (עֲרָבָה, ʿaravah) extending from Galilee along the Jordan River then descending to the

Gulf of Aqaba The Gulf of Aqaba ( ar, خَلِيجُ ٱلْعَقَبَةِ, Khalīj al-ʿAqabah) or Gulf of Eilat ( he, מפרץ אילת, Mifrátz Eilát) is a large gulf at the northern tip of the Red Sea, east of the Sinai Peninsula and west of the Arabian ...

. The king and his men might try to escape across the Jordan river to Moab or Ammon, because from and it is known that the Ammonites were harboring fugitives from the Babylonians.

Verse 5

:′'But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, at Riblah, in the land of Hamath; and he passed sentence on him.'' *Cross reference: Jeremiah 52:8 *"Plains": from the plural form of Hebrew word , ''ʿaravah'', "rift valley"; here refers to 'the sloping plains of the rift valley basin north of the Dead Sea' west of the Jordan River in the vicinity of the Jericho (cf. Numbers 21:1). *"

Riblah The ancient town of Riblah, today a Tell (archaeology), tell covered by a cemetery not far from the town of Rablah, Ribleh on the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon, was in Hebrew Bible, biblical times located on the northern frontier of the la ...

: was a city on the Orontes River in Syria, strategically located at a crossing of the major roads between

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

and

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...

. About 22 years before ( 609 BCE),

Pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the ...

Necho had brought Jehoahaz there, putting him in chains ( 2 Kings 23:33) prior to taking him captive to Egypt. Now Nebuchadnezzar made it his base camp for his campaigns against the Palestinian states and his seat of judgment on prisoners brought to him there,

Verse 7

:''Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him with bronze fetters to carry him off to Babylon.'' Cross references: 2 Kings 25:7; Jeremiah 52:11 * Huey notes the fulfillment of two prophecies in this verse: *#

would see the king of Babylon and then be taken to Babylon (the prophecy recorded in Jeremiah 32:4- 5; Jeremiah 34:3) *# Zedekiah would die in Babylon without being able to see that country (the prophecy recorded in Ezekiel 12:13)

Jeremiah and Ebed-melech went free (39:11–18)

Jeremiah survived because of his trust to YHWH and together with other people who were left behind by the Babylonians, he could go to his own home (), under the protection of

. Ebed-melech, the Ethiopian who had rescued Jeremiah also survived (), because he trusted in YHWH. The many topics of these narratives converge to a single persuasion effort that the exiles should submit to Babylon as the only way of life forward.

Verse 13

:''So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard sent Nebushasban, Rabsaris, Nergal-Sharezer, Rabmag, and all the king of Babylon’s chief officers;'' "

Rabsaris Rabsaris ( he, רַב-סָרִיס ''raḇ-sārīs''), possibly means "Chief of officers", (Akkadian: 𒇽𒃲𒊕 ''rab ša-rēši'' Ú.GAL.SAG is the name or title of two individuals mentioned in the Bible. * Rabasaris (in the Douay–Rheims Bib ...

"; and " Rabmag" are "titles of Babylonian officials" according to the New Oxford Annotated Bible.

Verse 14

:''then they sent someone to take Jeremiah from the court of the prison, and committed him to

the son of Ahikam, the son of

Shaphan Shaphan ( he, שפן, which means "hyrax"), son of Azaliah, is the name of a scribe or court secretary mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible (2 Kings and ; and parallels in 2 Chronicles ; see also Jeremiah 26:24; ; 39:14; and following; a ...

, that he should take him home. So he dwelt among the people.'' NKJV According to Jeremiah 40:1 the court of the prison was located in

Ramah Ramah may refer to: In ancient Israel * Ramathaim-Zophim, the birthplace of Samuel * Ramoth-Gilead, a Levite city of refuge * Ramah in Benjamin, mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah and also in the Gospel of Matthew * Baalath-Beer, also known as Ramo ...

, from where Jeremiah was released into the protection of

(cf. Jeremiah 26:24).

References

Sources

* * * * *

External links

Jewish

Jeremiah 39 Hebrew with Parallel English

Christian

Jeremiah 39 English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeremiah 39 39