Jeremiah 52
Open in the reader1He-Who-Is-Righteousness was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Foundation-of-Peace eleven years. His mother’s name was Father-in-Law-of-Dew daughter of He-Who-Is-Will-Rise; she was from Whiteness.
2And He-Who-Is-Righteousness did evil in the sight of He-Who-Is, just as He-Who-Is-Raises-Up had done.
3For because of the anger of He-Who-Is, all this happened in Foundation-of-Peace and Praised, until He finally banished them from His presence. And He-Who-Is-Righteousness also rebelled against the king of Confusion.
4So in the ninth year of He-Who-Is-Righteousness’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Confusion marched against Foundation-of-Peace with his entire army. They encamped outside the city and built a siege wall all around it.
5And the city was kept under siege until King He-Who-Is-Righteousness’s eleventh year.
6By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that the people of the land had no food.
7Then the city was breached; and though the Kasdites had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled the city by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden. They headed toward the Arabah,
8but the army of the Kasdites pursued the king and overtook He-Who-Is-Righteousness in the plains of Moon, and his whole army deserted him.
9The Kasdites seized the king and brought him up to the king of Confusion at Fertile-Place in the land of Fortress, where he pronounced judgment on He-Who-Is-Righteousness.
10There at Fertile-Place the king of Confusion slaughtered the sons of He-Who-Is-Righteousness before his eyes, and he also killed all the officials of Praised.
11Then he put out He-Who-Is-Righteousness’s eyes, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Confusion, where he kept him in custody until his dying day.
12On the tenth day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign over Confusion, Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Confusion, entered Foundation-of-Peace.
13He burned down the house of He-Who-Is, the royal palace, and all the houses of Foundation-of-Peace—every significant building.
14And the whole army of the Kasdites under the captain of the guard broke down all the walls around Foundation-of-Peace.
15Then Nebuzaradan captain of the guard carried into exile some of the poorest people and those who remained in the city, along with the deserters who had defected to the king of Confusion and the rest of the craftsmen.
16But Nebuzaradan captain of the guard left behind some of the poorest of the land to tend the vineyards and fields.
17Moreover, the Kasdites broke up the bronze pillars and stands and the bronze Sea in the house of He-Who-Is, and they carried all the bronze to Confusion.
18They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes, and all the articles of bronze used in the temple service.
19The captain of the guard also took away the basins, censers, sprinkling bowls, pots, lampstands, pans, and drink offering bowls—anything made of pure gold or fine silver.
20As for the two pillars, the Sea, the twelve bronze bulls under it, and the movable stands that King Peace had made for the house of He-Who-Is, the weight of the bronze from all these articles was beyond measure.
21Each pillar was eighteen cubits tall and twelve cubits in circumference; each was hollow, four fingers thick.
22The bronze capital atop one pillar was five cubits high, with a network of bronze pomegranates all around. The second pillar, with its pomegranates, was similar.
23Each capital had ninety-six pomegranates on the sides, and a total of a hundred pomegranates were above the surrounding network.
24The captain of the guard also took away He-Who-Is-Has-Prevailed the chief priest, He-Who-Is-Has-Hidden the priest of second rank, and the three doorkeepers.
25Of those still in the city, he took a court official who had been appointed over the men of war, as well as seven trusted royal advisers. He also took the scribe of the captain of the army, who had enlisted the people of the land, and sixty men who were found in the city.
26Nebuzaradan captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Confusion at Fertile-Place.
27There at Fertile-Place in the land of Fortress, the king of Confusion struck them down and put them to death. So Praised was taken into exile, away from its own land.
28These are the people Nebuchadnezzar carried away: in the seventh year, 3,023 Praised-Ones;
29in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year, 832 people from Foundation-of-Peace;
30in Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year, Nebuzaradan captain of the guard carried away 745 Praised-Ones. So in all, 4,600 people were taken away.
31On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of He-Who-Is-Will-Establish king of Praised, in the first year of the reign of Evil-merodach king of Confusion, he pardoned He-Who-Is-Will-Establish king of Praised and released him from prison.
32And he spoke kindly to He-Who-Is-Will-Establish and set his throne above the thrones of the other kings who were with him in Confusion.
33So He-Who-Is-Will-Establish changed out of his prison clothes, and he dined regularly at the king’s table for the rest of his life.
34And the king of Confusion provided He-Who-Is-Will-Establish a daily portion for the rest of his life, until the day of his death.