Jeremiah 39:4

When King Zedekiah and all his soldiers realized that the army of Babylonia had broken into the city, they fled. They waited until it was dark. Then they went out of the city through the king’s garden, through the gate that was between the two walls. Then they started running toward the Jordan River Valley.

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

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 plain.

In Context

3Then all the officers of the king of Babylon came in and sat down at the Middle Gate to decide what they would do to the city. They included Nergal-Sharezer from Samgar, Nebo-Sarsekim who was one of the chief army officers, another Nergal-Sharezer, the king’s advisor, and many other officials.

5But the soldiers from Babylonia pursued the king, and they caught him on the plains near Jericho. They took him to the King of Babylon, who was at Riblah town in the Hamath region. There the king of Babylon told his soldiers what they should do to punish Zedekiah.

Read all of Jeremiah 39

Cross References

Leviticus 26:17I will reject/abandon you [IDM], with the result that you will be defeated by your enemies. Then those who hate you will rule you, and you will be so terrified that you will run away even when no one is pursuing you.

Deuteronomy 28:25Yahweh will enable your enemies to defeat you; your soldiers will attack your enemies from one direction, but they will run away from your enemies in seven/many directions, and when the people of other nations see what is happening to you, they will say that it is horrible.

2 Kings 25:4On July 18 of that year, the Babylonian soldiers broke through part of the city wall, and that enabled them to enter the city. All the soldiers of Judah wanted to escape. But the Babylonian soldiers surrounded the city, so the king and the soldiers of Judah waited until it was nighttime. Then they fled through the gate that was between the two walls near the king’s park. They ran across the fields and started to go down to the Jordan River Valley.

Isaiah 22:3All the leaders of the city fled. But then they were captured because they did not have bows and arrows to defend themselves. Your soldiers tried to flee while the enemy army was still far away, but they also were captured.

Isaiah 30:15Yahweh, our God, the Holy One of Israel, also says this: “You will be rescued from your enemies only if you repent and trust in what I will do for you; you will be strong only if you quit worrying and trust in me. But you do not want to do that.

Jeremiah 38:18But if you refuse to surrender to them, you will not escape. And the army from Babylonia will capture this city and completely burn it.’”

Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 39:2-11

Jerusalem Taken. ( b. c. 588.) 1 In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem, and they besieged it. 2 And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up. 3 And all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate, even Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim, Rab-saris, Nergal-sharezer, Rab-mag, with all the residue of the princes of the king… Read the whole commentary →

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