What does Jeremias Chapter 39 say, and which statements belong to its speaker?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The fifth-day capture precedes flight, judgment and deportation. Poor people and Jeremias receive distinct treatment. A retrospective oracle promises Abdemelech escape.

Chapter breakdown

Jeremias 39 dates the siege to Sedecias’s ninth year, tenth month, and the opening of the city to his eleventh year, fourth month, fifth day. Babylonian princes sit in the middle gate. Sedecias and his men flee at night through the garden between two walls toward the desert. The Chaldean army catches him near Jericho and brings him to Nabuchodonosor at Reblatha in Emath for judgment.

His sons are killed before him and all Juda’s nobles are slain. His eyes are put out, and fetters accompany removal to Babylon. The Chaldeans burn royal and people’s houses and overthrow walls. Nabuzardan carries away the remaining people and fugitives, but leaves poor people possessing nothing and gives them vineyards and cisterns. Neither cavalry nor bronze fetters nor a deliberate final-memory motive is stated.

Nabuchodonosor orders care for Jeremias, no harm, and treatment according to his wishes. Officials bring him from the prison court and deliver him to Godolias son of Ahicam son of Saphan to go home; he dwells among the people. A word previously received while in the prison court addresses Abdemelech: announced evil will come on the city, but he will escape the men he fears and the sword, because he trusted the Lord. This is a personal promise, not an already narrated escape or a guarantee to every believer.

The story inside

Opening: The fifth-day capture precedes flight, judgment and deportation. Development: Poor people and Jeremias receive distinct treatment. Conclusion: A retrospective oracle promises Abdemelech escape.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The fifth-day capture precedes flight, judgment and deportation.
2
Poor people and Jeremias receive distinct treatment.
3
A retrospective oracle promises Abdemelech escape.

Test your recall

Which images and requests does the speaker use, and what does the chapter leave unresolved?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 88226–88240
39:4. And when Sedecias the king of Juda and all the men of war saw them, they fled: and they went forth in the night out of the city by the way of the king’s garden, and by the gate that was between the two walls, and they went out to the way of the desert. 39:5. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after them: and they took Sedecias in the plain of the desert of Jericho, and when they had taken him, they brought him to Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon to Reblatha, which is in the land of Emath: and he gave judgment upon him. 39:6. And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Sedecias, in Reblatha, before his eyes: and the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Juda. 39:7. He also put out the eyes of Sedecias: and bound him with fetters, to be carried to Babylon.
Lines 88268–88281
39:15. But the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, when he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying: Go, and tell Abdemelech the Ethiopian, saying: 39:16. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Behold I will bring my words upon this city unto evil, and not unto good: and they shall be accomplished in thy sight in that day. 39:17. And I will deliver thee in that day, saith the Lord: and thou shalt not be given into the hands of the men whom thou fearest: 39:18. But delivering, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword: but thy life shall be saved for thee, because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the Lord.