At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.
Parallel Translations
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At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.
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At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.
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At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.
Cross-references (2)
Passages linked to 2 Kings 24:10 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 2 Kings 25:2 So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.
- Daniel 1:1-2 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God; and he carried them into the land of Shinar to the house of his god. He brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 2Ki 24:10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar…
2Ki 24:10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.
Ver. 10. At that time.] About the spring. {2Ch 36:10} Much about the same time was Cyrus born for a scourge to Babylon, {a} but for a relief to God’s poor prisoners of hope there; according as Isaiah had foretold, {Isa 47:1-2; Isa 13:16} and the psalmist. {Psa 137:8-9} See Isa 44:28; Isa 45:1-4.
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{a} Cic. de Divin. ex Dionys.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain 1. Because the people had made Jehoiachin king without…
Either,
1. Because the people had made Jehoiachin king without his consent. Or,
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2. Because he had some notice, or at least a suspicion, of his intentions to rebel against him, and to join with Egypt against him, as Zedekiah his successor did. But whatsoever was the second and immediate cause of it, the chief cause was God’s commandment, or the direction of his providence, as it was said, 2Ki 24:3.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And Jehoiachin king of Judah went out to the…
And Jehoiachin king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon,.... Not to fight with him, but to submit to him, and to surrender the city to him, and be at his mercy:
he and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers; the royal family, courtiers, and nobles:
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and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign; Of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, and which was the eighth of the first captivity, and from whence the seventy years' captivity were reckoned.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 2Ki 24:10. The servants of Nebuchadnezzar came up against…
2Ki 24:10. The servants of Nebuchadnezzar came up against Jerusalem — Either, 1st, Because the people had made Jehoiachin king without his consent: or, 2d, Because he had some notice, or at least a suspicion, of his intentions to rebel and join with Egypt against him, as Zedekiah his successor did. But whatever was the second and immediate cause of it, the chief cause was God’s commandment, or the direction of his providence, as was said 2Ki 24:3.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Came up against Jerusalem - The cause and circumstances…
Came up against Jerusalem - The cause and circumstances of this siege are equally obscure. Perhaps Nebuchadnezzar detected Jehoiachin in some attempt to open communications with Egypt.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Came. Hebrew, "servants....he came." But several manuscripts are more…
Came. Hebrew, "servants....he came." But several manuscripts are more accurate and grammatical, "they came." (Kennicott) (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain JERUSALEM TAKEN. (Kg2 24:10-16)
JERUSALEM TAKEN. (Kg2 24:10-16)
At that time--within three months after his accession to the throne. It was the spring of the year (Ch2 36:10); so early did he indicate a feeling hostile to the interests of his Assyrian liege lord, by forming a league with Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar sent his generals to besiege Jerusalem, as Jeremiah had foretold (Jer 22:28; Jer 34:20), and soon after he followed in person. Convinced of the hopelessness of making any effectual resistance, Jehoiachin, going to the camp of the besiegers, surrendered (Kg2 24:12), in the expectation, probably, of being allowed to retain his throne as a vassal of the Assyrian empire. But Nebuchadnezzar's clemency towards the kings of Judah was now exhausted, so that Jehoiachin was sent as a captive to Babylon, according to Jeremiah's prediction (Jer 22:24), accompanied by the queen mother (the same who had held that dignity under Jehoahaz) (Kg2 23:31), his generals, and officers. This happened in the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, computing from the time when he was associated with his father in the government. Those that were left consisted chiefly of the poorer sort of people and the unskilled workmen. The palace and the temple were ransacked. The smaller golden vessels had been taken on the first capture of Jerusalem and placed by Nebuchadnezzar in the temple of his god as tokens of victory. They were used by Belshazzar at his impious feast [Dan 5:2], for the purpose of rewarding his army with these trophies, among which were probably the golden candlesticks, the ark, &c. (compare Ch2 36:7; Dan 1:2). Now the gold plating was torn off all the larger temple furniture.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 10. Servants of Nebuchadnezzar — His generals, with forces…
10. Servants of Nebuchadnezzar — His generals, with forces sufficient to besiege the city. As the bands mentioned in 2Ki_24:2 had failed to take Jerusalem, he now sends more imposing forces.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 10. the servants of Nebuchadnezzar … came up against…
10. the servants of Nebuchadnezzar … came up against [R.V. to] Jerusalem] There is no preposition in the Hebrew, only the accusative of direction. On ‘servants’ see note on 2Ki_5:13.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (10) At that time.—In the spring of the year…
(10) At that time.—In the spring of the year (2Ch_36:10). Thenius infers from Jer_13:19 (“the cities of the south land are shut up”), that Nebuchadnezzar drew a cordon across that part of the country, to cut off any succours from Egypt.
The servants—i.e., generals. (Comp. 2Ki_19:6.)
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Was besieged.—See margin; and 2Ki_25:2; Jer_52:5.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar King of…
At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon came up against Jerusalem. This siege fell probably into the year B.C. 597, which was "the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar" (ver. 12). Nebuchadnezzar himself was, at the time, engaged in the siege of Tyre, which had revolted in B.C. 598 (see "Ancient Monarchies," vol. 3. p. 51), and therefore sent his "servantsi.e. generals against Jerusalem. And the city was besieged. Probably for only a short time. Jeconiah may at first have had some hope of support from Egypt, still under the rule of Nechoh; but when no movement was made in this quarter (see the comment on ver. 7), he determined not to provoke his powerful enemy by an obstinate resistance, but to propitiate him, if possible, by a prompt surrender.
Vers. 10-20. The first general captivity.
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Some captives had been taken to Babylon on occasion of Nebuchadnezzar"s first advance against Jerusalem. (Dan_1:1, Dan_1:2) The full storm of predicted judgment was now, however, to descend. What prophets had so long foretold amidst the scoffing and incredulity of their godless contemporaries was now at length to be accomplished. The final tragedy fails into two parts, of which the first is before us.
I JEHOIACHIN MAKES SURRENDER.
1. The city besieged. The attacks of the Chaldeans, Syrians, Moabites, etc., mentioned in ver. 2, had served an immediate purpose in weakening the strength and exhausting the resources of Judah. The great king, whose fame was already equaling that of a Sargon or a Sennacherib, was now able to send his main army against the city, and soon after appeared upon the scene in person. Again, as in the days of Hezekiah, the city was closely invested; but this time there was no Isaiah to hurl back scorn for scorn, and assure the trembling king of the complete discomfiture of the enemy. Neither was there a king of Hezekiah"s stamp to lay the blasphemous messages of the invader before the Lord, and entreat his interposition. (2Ki_19:14-19) It was another kind of message Jeremiah the prophet had to bear to king and people. The day for mercy was past; and in default of a general repentance, which was not to be expected, there remained nothing but "a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation". (Heb_10:27) The day of final reckoning surely comes for every sinner. It had come for Israel a hundred and twenty years before; it was now come for Israel"s sister Judah.
2. Jehoiachin"s voluntary surrender. Seeing resistance to be hopeless, Jehoiachin did what, on the most favorable interpretation of his conduct, was a noble thing. The city could not hold out; but if he and the other members of the royal house went and made voluntary surrender of themselves to Nebuchadnezzar, the worst horrors might be spared. This, indeed, was what Jeremiah always counseled. Jehoiachin accordingly went forth, with Nehushta his mother, and his servants, princes, and officers, and delivered themselves up to the Babylonian king. He might feel, with the lepers of Samaria, "If they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die". (2Ki_7:4) Or he may have been actuated by the nobler impulse to save the people, and may have thought, "It is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not". (Joh_11:50) His submission did avert the worst from the nation. His own life was spared, though he was led away a prisoner; the city was not sacked and burned, as afterwards; and no massacre of the inhabitants took place. A tender tone pervades Jeremiah"s references to this unfortunate king. (Jer_22:24-30) Ezekiel likens him to "the highest branch of the cedar," which the "great eagle, with great wings, long-winged, full of feathers, which had divers colors," crops off; (Eze_17:3, Eze_17:4) and again (according to some) to "a young lion," who had "learned to catch the prey, and devoured men," but "the nations set against him on every side," and "he was taken in their pit" and put in chains, and brought to the King of Babylon. (Eze_19:5-9) We may share with Jeremiah in his sympathy for the unhappy young king in his exile. (Jer_22:28) Had his circumstances been more favorable, better things might have been hoped of him. The nobility of self-sacrifice redeems a character from many faults.
II THE CITY DESPOILED. If Jehoiachin"s surrender saved the people from slaughter, it could not save the city from plunder, nor its inhabitants from captivity. Nebuchadnezzar was no kid-gloved conqueror; where his mailed hand fell, he let it be felt. This city had rebelled against him, and he would effectually cripple its power to rebel again by impoverishing, degrading, and weakening it to the utmost. Nebuchadnezzar was intent only on his own ends, yet unconsciously he was carrying out to the letter the predictions which God"s prophets had been dinning into the people"s ears with so little result during all the years of their backsliding. The city was despoiled:
1. Of its wealth and sacred vessels. "He carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king"s house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon... had made," etc. Jehoiakim had saved his treasures at the expense of exactions from the people, and his "covetousness" had doubtless filled them still more. (Jer_22:17) These ill-gotten gains were now carried away, and with them such of the temple vessels as were made of, or plated with, gold, the "cutting to pieces" being probably confined to the latter, with such large articles as the golden candlestick, etc. Of the smaller articles some few were spared, (2Ki_25:15) and the rest were preserved in Babylon, and restored on the return. (Ezr_1:7-11) Judgment thus again began at the house of God. As, with the wealth of the city, the wealth-producers were also taken (ver. 14), it is easy to see to what poverty it was reduced.
2. Of its royal family and nobles. "And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king"s mother, and the king"s wives," etc. The land was thus deflowered of its king and aristocracy. The nobles, indeed, had proved no source of strength to the nation, but had set an example of luxury, oppression, corruption, and idolatry. Still, they were the representatives of its old hereditary families; they had high social position and great influence; and they ought to have been, if they were not, patrons and examples of everything good and great. Those who have rank, fortune, and leisure may be of the highest service to a state, if only they devote their powers to its true welfare. They contribute elements of refinement, culture, and wealth to it, which cannot be lost without impoverishment. If, however, they abuse their opportunities, and grow luxurious, idle, and wicked, they have generally to suffer severely in the end.
3. Of its artisans and warriors. "And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all that were strong and apt for war," etc. Besides removing from the city the wealth that enriched it, and the nobles who adorned it, Nebuchadnezzar took away the skilful hands that did its work, and the strong arms that fought for it. He left none "save the poorest sort of the people of the land." This was to drain the city dry of every element of its prosperity. The middle classes of a nation its wealth-producers and skilled laborers even more than its aristocracy are the source of its strength. By them is created the capital of the country; through them that capital undergoes constant renewal and increase; they supply the wants of every other class; without them the nobles would be helpless, and on them "the poorest sort of people too often the unfortunate, the shiftless, the inefficient classes depend for casual employment and support. Nebuchadnezzar looked well to his own interests when he deported these classes, and not the poor, the less able, leas thrifty, to Babylon. But their departure was ruinous to Jerusalem, and this also Nebuchadnezzar intended. It was, indeed, an irretrievable, crushing blow, which had fallen on the nation, nonetheless ruinous and terrible that it had been so long predicted, and was so richly deserved. Piety tends to the enrichment and strengthening of a nation, as of an individual, even temporally; but a course of ungodliness ends in the loss of temporal and spiritual possessions together.
III ZEDEKIAH MADE KING.
1. Accession of Zedekiah. Jehoiachin was a man of spirited character, and Nebuchadnezzar seems to have thought that he would be better served by putting a weaker man upon the throne. The person chosen was an uncle of the young king"s, a brother of Jehoiakim, whose name, Mattaniah, Nebuchadnezzar changed to Zedekiah Righteousness of Jehovah." There was little honor now in being King of Judah; but at least the city and temple still stood; the priesthood had not been carried away; there were a few nobles left to grace the court; and by degrees new artisans and soldiers might have been got in, and the state again Built up. It was the last chance, and was given only to show clearly how hopeless the moral condition of the people was. For if anything could have sobered them, and convinced them of the truth of the words of the prophets, it was such a catastrophe as had descended upon them. Deaf to all warnings, however, whether of mercy or judgment, the people only went on from bad to worse.
2. His weak character. The outstanding feature in Zedekiah"s character was weakness lack of courage and strength of will He was not without good impulses. He showed a friendly disposition to Jeremiah; on various occasions he sought his advice and intercession; (Jer_21:1, 2 37:3 38:14-17) at Jeremiah"s instigation he made a covenant with the people of Jerusalem, pledging them to give liberty to their bondmen, (Jer_34:8, Jer_34:11) and once at least he refrained from entering into a proposed league against Nebuchadnezzar. (Jer_27:3) But his timid, faithless, unstable nature reveals itself at every turn. He was like Herod, who did many things at the bidding of John the Baptist, and heard him gladly, yet at last beheaded him to please a wicked woman. (Mar_6:20) Zedekiah knew what was fight, but did not do it; (Jer_37:2) he weakly allowed himself to be overruled by his nobles when they broke through his covenant he had no power to resist; (Jer_34:11) when they urged him to put Jeremiah to death, he consented, saying, "Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not he that can do anything against you"; (Jer_38:4, Jer_38:5) then, when Ebed-Melech pleaded for the prophet, he gave orders for his deliverance (ver. 10); he disobeyed Jeremiah in throwing off his allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar, and in seeking an alliance with Egypt; and when Nebuchadnezzar again came up against him, he sought Jeremiah"s counsel, but did not take it when it was given, (Jer_38:14-28) etc. Meanwhile idolatry had firmly established itself in the holy city, and within the very precincts of the temple. (Eze 8) Fitly, therefore, is the reign of this last king described, like the rest, as "evil." His weakness and vacillation, his unfaithfulness to his own best convictions, his sinful yielding to others in what he knew to be wrong, were his ruin. He was in a hard and difficult position, and he had no strength of mind to cope with it.
3. His rebellion. At length, yielding to the solicitations of his nobles, and hopeful of help from Egypt, (Eze_17:15) he broke his oath of allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar, an act which Ezekiel strongly condemns. (Eze_17:16-19) The cup was full, and the Lord left him thus far to himself, that the nation might be destroyed. Men who will not follow light, lose light. A blindness, as from heaven, falls upon them. They are left to the bent of their own hearts, and their own counsel is their ruin. Sin is the supreme folly, as righteousness is the supreme wisdom. J.O.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the…
Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, his mother, his servants, his princes, and his officers
You may need to make explicit why Jehoiachin went out to meet Nebuchadnezzar. AT: "Jehoiachin the king of Judah, with his mother, his servants, his princes, and his officers, went out to where the king of Babylon was, to surrender to him" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
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The king of Babylon captured him in the eighth year of his own reign
"After the king of Babylon had been king for more than seven years, he captured Jehoiachin"
translationWords
Nebuchadnezzar
Babylon
siege
servant
prince
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 24:10-12 Faced with the overwhelming forces of Nebuchadnezzar, Jehoiachin…
24:10-12 Faced with the overwhelming forces of Nebuchadnezzar, Jehoiachin surrendered. See study note on 2 Chr 36:9-10. • The eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign was 597 BC.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.