¹tn Or “against.”
²sn This would have been Jan 15, 588 b.c. The reckoning is based on the calendar that begins the year in the spring (Nisan = March/April).
³tn The MT has simply “of the month,” but the parallel passage in Jer 52:6 has “fourth month,” and this is followed by almost all English translations. The word “fourth,” however, is not actually present in the MT of 2 Kgs 25:3.
sn According to modern reckoning that would have been July 18, 586 b.c. The siege thus lasted almost a full eighteen months.
⁴tn Heb “the people of the land.”
⁵tn Heb “the city was breached.”
⁶tn The Hebrew text is abrupt here: “And all the men of war by the night.” The translation attempts to capture the sense.
⁷sn The king’s garden is mentioned again in Neh 3:15 in conjunction with the pool of Siloam and the stairs that go down from the city of David. This would have been in the southern part of the city near the Tyropean Valley which agrees with the reference to the “two walls” which were probably the walls on the eastern and western hills.
⁸sn Heb “toward the Arabah.” The Arabah was the rift valley north and south of the Dead Sea. Here the intention was undoubtedly to escape across the Jordan to Moab or Ammon. It appears from Jer 40:14; 41:15 that the Ammonites were known to harbor fugitives from the Babylonians.
⁹map For location see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.
¹⁰sn Riblah was a strategic town on the Orontes River in Syria. It was at a crossing of the major roads between Egypt and Mesopotamia. Pharaoh Necho had earlier received Jehoahaz there and put him in chains (2 Kgs 23:33) prior to taking him captive to Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar had set up his base camp for conducting his campaigns against the Palestinian states there and was now sitting in judgment on prisoners brought to him.
¹¹tn The Hebrew text has the plural form of the verb, but the parallel passage in Jer 52:9 has the singular.
¹²tn Heb “before his eyes.”
¹³tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king of Babylon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
¹⁴tn The parallel account in Jer 52:12 has “tenth.”
¹⁵sn The seventh day of the month would have been August 14, 586 b.c. in modern reckoning.
¹⁶tn For the meaning of this phrase see BDB 371 s.v. jB*f^ 2, and compare the usage in Gen 39:1.
¹⁷map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
¹⁸tn Heb “and every large house he burned down with fire.”
¹⁹tc The MT has “the multitude.” But /omh*h# (hehamon) should probably be emended to /oma*h# (he’amon).
²⁰tn Heb “the captain of the royal guard.” However, the subject is clear from the preceding and contemporary English style would normally avoid repeating the proper name and title.
²¹sn See the note at 1 Kgs 7:23.
²²sn These shovels were used to clean the altar.
²³sn These were used to trim the wicks.
²⁴tn Heb “with which they served [or, ‘fulfilled their duty’].”
²⁵sn These held the embers used for the incense offerings.
²⁶tc The MT lacks “the twelve bronze bulls under ‘the Sea,’” but these words have probably been accidentally omitted by homoioarcton. The scribe’s eye may have jumped from the h*w+ (v^eha-) on rq*B*h^w+ (v^ehabbaqar), “and the bulls,” to the h*w+ on tonk)M=h^w+ (v^ehamm^ekhonot), “and the movable stands,” causing him to leave out the intervening words. See the parallel passage in Jer 52:20.
²⁷tn Heb “eighteen cubits.” The standard cubit in the OT is assumed by most authorities to be about eighteen inches (45 cm) long.
²⁸tn Heb “three cubits.” The parallel passage in Jer 52:22 has “five.”
²⁹tn The parallel passage in Jer 52:25 has “seven.”
³⁰tn Heb “five seers of the king’s face.”
³¹tn Heb “the people of the land.”
³²tn Heb “struck them down and killed them.”
³³tn Heb “land.”
³⁴tn Heb “And the people who were left in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon left, he appointed over them Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan.”
³⁵tn Heb “of the army.” The word “Judahite” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
³⁶tn The words “so as to give them…some assurance of safety” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
³⁷sn It is not altogether clear whether this is in the same year that Jerusalem fell or not. The wall was breached in the fourth month (= early July; Jer 39:2) and Nebuzaradan came and burned the palace, the temple, and many of the houses and tore down the wall in the fifth month (= early August; Jer 52:12). That would have left time between the fifth month and the seventh month (October) to gather in the harvest of grapes, dates and figs, and olives (Jer 40:12). However, many commentators feel that too much activity takes place in too short a time for this to have been in the same year and posit that it happened the following year or even five years later when a further deportation took place, possibly in retaliation for the murder of Gedaliah and the Babylonian garrison at Mizpah (Jer 52:30). The assassination of Gedaliah had momentous consequences and was commemorated in one of the post exilic fast days lamenting the fall of Jerusalem (Zech 8:19).
³⁸tn Heb “[was] from the seed of the kingdom.”
³⁹tn Heb “and they struck down Gedaliah and he died.”
⁴⁰tn Heb “arose and went to.”
⁴¹sn The parallel account in Jer 52:31 has “twenty-fifth.”
⁴²sn The twenty-seventh day would be March 22, 561 b.c. in modern reckoning.
⁴³tn Heb “lifted up the head of.”
⁴⁴tn The words “released him” are supplied in the translation on the basis of Jer 52:31.
⁴⁵tn Heb “made his throne above the throne of.”
⁴⁶tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jehoiachin) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
⁴⁷ tc The words “until the day he died” do not appear in the MT, but they are included in the parallel passage in Jer 52:34. Probably they have been accidentally omitted by homoioteleuton. A scribe’s eye jumped from the final vav (w) on omoyB= (b^eyomo), “in his day,” to the final vav (w) on otom (moto), “his death,” leaving out the intervening words.