Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him with chains, to carry him to Babylon.
Parallel translations
- WEB Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon.
- BSB Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him with bronze chains to take 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 12:13My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.
- 2 Kgs 25:7And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon.
- Judg 16:21But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.
- Jer 52:11Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.
- Jer 32:4–5And Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall behold his eyes;
- Ps 119:8I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly.
- Ps 107:10–11Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron;
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
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