And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up.
The breaching and capture of Jerusalem is dated to the ninth day of the fourth month in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, when the city was broken up. Zedekiah was Judah's last king, and the Chaldeans captured him at that fall. The breach came after a siege of a year and a half begun by Nebuchadnezzar in the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign. Zedekiah had served the king of Babylon eight years and then rebelled, seeking help from Uaphrahet, Pharaoh-hophra of Egypt, whose army failed to deliver him.
The verse records the fulfillment of Jeremiah's warning after Zedekiah refused the final offer to surrender to Babylon, when Jerusalem was captured and burned by the Chaldeans. It belongs to the historical account of the two years before Jerusalem fell. It shows the wisdom of heeding God's word, for although Jeremiah assured Zedekiah that those who yielded to the king of Babylon would be spared, Zedekiah feared the people more than he believed God, leading to his sad fate.
When the city was taken, Zedekiah with many more of the people was carried to Babylon. The temple and all the great men's houses were burned with fire, and the walls of Jerusalem were broken down round about. Gedaliah was made governor over the very few poor people left in the land. The taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in the fourth month when the city was broken up is the reason for the fast of the fourth month named in Zechariah 8:19. That fast shall become joy and gladness to the house of Judah on condition that they love truth and peace, while loving wickedness would bring God's judgments again.
In the suggested chronological and reading order the verse belongs to Jeremiah 39:1-14, the account of Jerusalem's fall during Zedekiah's reign. That section happened after Jeremiah 38 and after Jeremiah 39:15-18 and before Jeremiah 40-45, so it follows Jeremiah 39:15-18. Jeremiah's prophecies are not placed in chronological order because of the way the rolls were gathered together in one book, but this makes no change in the teaching, and the chapter itself nearly always makes its own time clear.
The breaching and capture of Jerusalem is dated to the ninth day of the fourth month in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, when the city was broken up. Zedekiah was Judah's last king, and the Chaldeans captured him at that fall. The breach came after a siege of a year and a half begun by Nebuchadnezzar in the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign. Zedekiah had served the king of Babylon eight years and then rebelled, seeking help from Uaphrahet, Pharaoh-hophra of Egypt, whose army failed to deliver him.
The verse records the fulfillment of Jeremiah's warning after Zedekiah refused the final offer to surrender to Babylon, when Jerusalem was captured and burned by the Chaldeans. It belongs to the historical account of the two years before Jerusalem fell. It shows the wisdom of heeding God's word, for although Jeremiah assured Zedekiah that those who yielded to the king of Babylon would be spared, Zedekiah feared the people more than he believed God, leading to his sad fate.
When the city was taken, Zedekiah with many more of the people was carried to Babylon. The temple and all the great men's houses were burned with fire, and the walls of Jerusalem were broken down round about. Gedaliah was made governor over the very few poor people left in the land. The taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in the fourth month when the city was broken up is the reason for the fast of the fourth month named in Zechariah 8:19. That fast shall become joy and gladness to the house of Judah on condition that they love truth and peace, while loving wickedness would bring God's judgments again.
In the suggested chronological and reading order the verse belongs to Jeremiah 39:1-14, the account of Jerusalem's fall during Zedekiah's reign. That section happened after Jeremiah 38 and after Jeremiah 39:15-18 and before Jeremiah 40-45, so it follows Jeremiah 39:15-18. Jeremiah's prophecies are not placed in chronological order because of the way the rolls were gathered together in one book, but this makes no change in the teaching, and the chapter itself nearly always makes its own time clear.