unto them, I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan's house, to die 27 there. Then came all the princes unto Jeremiah, and asked him and he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they left off speaking 28 with him; for the matter was not perceived. So Jeremiah abode in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken: and he was there when Jerusalem was taken.

I presented my supplication] For the more literal rendering of the words see note on xxxvi. 7.

to Jonathan's house] See xxxvii. 15.

28. of the prison] of the guard. See xxxii. 2.

and he was there when Jerusalem was taken] This, which is an inadmissible, rendering of the Heb., has only arisen in connexion with an erroneous division of the chapters. These words belong to chapter xxxix., and are to be translated And it came to pass, when Jerusalem was taken (in the ninth year of Zedekiah...the city was broken up) then all the princes of the king of Babylon, etc.

CHAP. XXXIX. 1-7. CAPTURE OF THE CITY. FATE of

ZEDEKIAH.

There at once arises a question as to the genuineness of the greater part of this chapter. (i) Verses 4-13 (inclusive) are omitted in the Septuagint, and (ii) the narrative coincides in the main with that of chap. lii. and of 2 Kings xxv. while it yet presents certain difficulties in matters of detail, when compared with these and with other parts of the narrative. To (i) we may reply, as in earlier cases, that the Septuagint presents throughout this book far too much appearance of arbitrariness to make its testimony on such a point to be of any considerable weight, unless supported by important evidence from other sources. As regards (ii) it not easy to give any plausible conjecture as to the reason for the repetition of so much of this chapter in the narrative contained in lii. further than to suggest that it may very possibly be connected in some way with the fact of the hiatus in the Septuagint here, and with the difference of authorship in lii. See note on ver. I of that chap. The difficulties of detail are (a) in xxxix. 2 the ninth day of the fourth month is mentioned as that on which the city was captured, but in lii. 6 as that on which provisions failed, and (6) Nebuzar-adan, who did not reach Jerusalem till a month after its capture (lii. 12), was commissioned to call Jeremiah from prison (xxxix. 11, 12), whereas according to xxxviii. 28 Jeremiah was freed on the day of the capture of the city. To this may be added (c) that the princes of Babylon on freeing Jeremiah committed him to Gedaliah (xxxix. 14), while (xl. 1) he seems to have nevertheless been made to walk in chains with the other captives, and in no wise distinguished from them till freed by Nebuzar-adan in person. All these however admit of fairly easy replies, viz. to (a) that the total failure of provisions would naturally coincide with the end of the siege, to (b) that

CHAP. XXXIX. 1-7. Capture of the city. Fate of Zedekiah.

In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth 39 month, came Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem, and they besieged it. And in the 2 eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up. And all the 3 princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate, even Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim,

the purport of chap. xxxviii. 28, is merely to account for Jeremiah up to the date of the capture of the city without making any assertion beyond that date, to (c) that Gedaliah after receiving Jeremiah into his charge had gone off without him to Mizpeh (xl. 6), in which case it was by no means unnatural that in the absence of this protector Jeremiah should not receive any special favour till his meeting with "the captain of the guard” (xl. 1).

1. In the ninth year] This and ver. 2 give us the dates of the beginning and end of the siege. We have the former still more particularly in chap. lii. 4, where occur the words "in the tenth day of the month, as also in 2 Kings xxv. 1, and Ezek. xxiv. 1. In this last passage, which introduces a description of the crimes and consequent sufferings of Jerusalem, the date of the commencement of the siege is further emphasized thus (ver. 2) "Son of man, write thee the name of the day, even of this same day; the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem this same day."

2. And in the eleventh year...] We gather from this verse that the siege lasted one day short of eighteen months.

3. in the middle gate] not mentioned elsewhere, but probably between the upper and lower divisions of the city, and thus connecting Mount Zion with the rest.

Nergal-sharezer...] From the Eng. it would appear that there are six princes mentioned by name. In fact however there are but four at the most, (a) Nergal-sharezer (may Nirgal protect the king), (b) Samgar-nebo (be gracious, O Nebo), (c) Sarsechim, of whose name the meaning is still unknown, (d) another Nergal-sharezer. Rab-saris (chief of the eunuchs) and Rab-mag (chief of the magi) are the titles of those whose names they follow. It has been proposed to reduce the number still further by getting rid of Samgar-nebo as a proper name. Samgar will then be rendered a cup-bearer and attached as title to the preceding name, while the second part of the compound is rejected as a later addition on the ground that in all other cases of proper names compounded with nebo this part comes at the beginning of the word, e. g. Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzar-adan, Nebopolassar, etc. The second Nergal-sharezer is a son-in-law of Nebuchadnezzar, and the same who murdered Evil-Merodach and after four years' reign was slain by Cyrus. In the cuneiform (arrow-headed) inscriptions he is called Raba-Emga (Rab-mag). This is the first passage of the JEREMIAH 17

Rab-saris, Nergal-sharezer, Rab-mag, with all the residue of 4 the princes of the king of Babylon. And it came to pass, that when Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them, and all the men of war, then they fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king's garden, by the gate betwixt the two walls: and he went out the way of the 5 plain. But the Chaldeans' army pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho: and when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he 6 gave judgment upon him. Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes also the 7 king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah. Moreover he Bible in which one of the magi is mentioned by this title. We find them again Dan. ii. 2, iv. 7, and in the Greek of Matt. ii. 1, etc.

It has been objected against the genuineness of this verse that the chief of the eunuchs (Rab-saris) mentioned in ver. 13 is Nebushasban, while Nebuzar-adan appears there and not here. The explanation of both these differences however is probably the same, i.e. that ver. 3 gives us those who were in command at the actual capture of the city. while, as is brought out more clearly in chap. lii. 12, Ñebuzar-adan did not arrive till a month later, to which date therefore verses 13, 14 of this chapter really refer.

4. saw them] It was night, so that the sense may be, learned that they were in possession of the gate of the citadel of Zion.

by the way of the king's garden] Probably on the slope of the hill Zion.

by the gate betwixt the two walls] We are reduced to conjecture for the position not only of this gate but of the walls spoken of. Either the gate was in a double wall between Zion and Ophel which lay beneath it (but in this case we should expect a double gate also) or it pierced a wall connecting the two here spoken of.

the way of the plain] The direction in which he fled shews that his aim was to escape to the eastern bank of the Jordan.

5. Riblah] probably not the same as that mentioned in Numb. xxxiv. II as on the eastern boundary of the land. This Riblah was the place whither Pharaoh-Nechoh proceeded after the battle of Carchemish and summoned Jehoahaz to appear before him (2 Kings xxiii. 33). From the use which the king of Babylon made of this place it was evidently on the high road between Babylon and Palestine. "It has been discovered in modern times, and retains its name. It lies on the banks of a mountain stream in the midst of a vast and fertile plain yielding the most abundant supplies of forage.' Robinson's Bible Researches, III. 545.

gave judgment upon him] See note on chap. i. 16.

6. nobles] The word here used in the Heb. differs from the word

put out Zedekiah's eyes, and bound him with chains to carry him to Babylon.

8-10. Treatment of the city and inhabitants.

And the Chaldeans burnt the king's house, and the 8 houses of the people, with fire, and brake down the walls of Jerusalem. Then Nebuzar-adan the captain of the 9 guard carried away captive into Babylon the remnant of the people that remained in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to him, with the rest of the people that remained. But Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard left of the poor 10 of the people, which had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.

11-14. Nebuchadnezzar's care for Jeremiah.

Now Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon gave charge conin the corresponding passage in chap. lii. ("princes," ver. 10) while the former, although not occurring in many books of the Bible, is used elsewhere by Jeremiah (xxvii. 20). This is an additional argument in favour of the genuineness of this narrative of the capture of the city.

7. Moreover he put out Zedekiah's eyes] See note on xxxiv. 3. "Putting out the eyes has been at all times a common Oriental punishment... The frequency of the punishment in the time of the younger Cyrus is indicated by a passage in Xenophon, where it is said that men deprived of sight for their crimes were a common spectacle along the highways within his government." Rawlinson's Herod. vol. IV. p. 16. Compare Jud. xvi. 21.

8-10. TREATMENT OF THE CITY AND INHABITANTS.

This section by way of introduction to the brief account of the treatment of Jeremiah, gives a sketch of the fate of the inhabitants generally. If we had only this summary, we might suppose that Nebuzar-adan was present at the time in person. We find from the two other forms of the account (chap. lii; 2 Kings xxv.) that he did not arrive till a month after the taking of Jerusalem.

9. captain of the guard] literally, chief of the executioners, i.e., of the king's body guard, to whom such duties fell.

that fell to him] i.e. that went over to the Chaldaeans, and so were under Nebuzar-adan from such time as he appeared in command.

10. gave them vineyards and fields] The parallel accounts (lii. 16; 2 Kings xxv. 12) say that they were left as vinedressers and husbandmen. Combining the accounts then we see precisely how the matter They were put in charge of this kind of property, which in a sense was given to them as their own, but might be resumed at any moment by the conqueror.

was.

12

cerning Jeremiah to Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard, saying, Take him, and look well to him, and do him no harm; but do unto him even as he shall say unto thee. 13 So Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard sent, and Nebushasban, Rab-saris, and Nergal-sharezer, Rab-mag, and 14 all the king of Babylon's princes; even they sent, and took Jeremiah out of the court of the prison, and committed him unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, that he should carry him home: so he dwelt among the people.

15

15-18. Message to Ebed-melech.

Now the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, while 16 he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying, Go and speak to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring my words upon this city for evil, and not for good; and 17 they shall be accomplished in that day before thee. But I will deliver thee in that day, saith the LORD: and thou shalt not be given into the hand of the men of whom thou 18 art afraid. For I will surely deliver thee, and thou shalt

11-14. NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S CARE FOR JEREMIAH.

12. Take him, and look well to him] This favour shewn by Nebuchadnezzar was due to the fact that Jeremiah had consistently throughout counselled submission to him on the part of the Jews. A practical instance of the favour was that Jeremiah was freed from his chains at Ramah (xl. 1) instead of being compelled to proceed to Riblah under the same circumstances as the other captives.

13. For the names, see remarks on ver. 3.

14. For the apparent contradiction between this and xl. 1—4, see note at beginning of this chap.

Gedaliah] See note on xxvi. 24.

home] to the house. This has been taken as (a) Gedaliah's house, (b) the (chief) house, in the immediate neighbourhood of "the court of the guard," in other words, the king's palace, (c) (best, as most in agreement with the last words of the verse) Jeremiah's own house.

15-18. MESSAGE TO EBED-MELECH.

15. came] rather, had come, for this incident should in point of time be connected with the events of chap. xxxviii. It probably was postponed till now in order that there might be no break in the narrative of Jeremiah's imprisonment and the capture of the city.

17. the men of whom thou art afraid] meaning, not the princes, who were hostile to Jeremiah and so would punish Ebed-melech for helping