Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him with bronze chains to take him to Babylon.
Parallel translations
- WEB Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon.
- KJV Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him with chains, to carry him to Babylon.
- NKJV Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him with bronze fetters to carry him off to Babylon.
- NASB He then blinded Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him in shackles of bronze to bring him to Babylon.
- NLT Then he gouged out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him in bronze chains to lead him away to Babylon.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Zedekiah is blinded and led in chains to Babylon. Two seemingly contradictory prophecies are both fulfilled exactly.
Overview
By putting out Zedekiah's eyes after he saw his sons die, Babylon fulfills both Jeremiah's word that he would be taken to Babylon (Jer 32:5) and Ezekiel's word that he would not see it (Ezek 12:13). The detail shows the precision and trustworthiness of God's prophetic word. Zedekiah's blindness is also a fitting image of the spiritual blindness that had marked his refusal to heed God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Ezek 12:13But I will spread My net over him, and he will be caught in My snare. I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans; yet he will not see it, and there he will die.
- 2 Kgs 25:7And they slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.
- Judg 16:21Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze shackles and forced to grind grain in the prison.
- Jer 52:11Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon, where he kept him in custody until his dying day.
- Jer 32:4–5Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape from the hands of the Chaldeans, but he will surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and will speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye.
- Ps 119:8I will keep Your statutes; do not utterly forsake me.
- Ps 107:10–11Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and chains,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 39:7 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.