Jeremiah 39:3 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Jeremiah 39:3
And all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate, even Nergalsharezer, Samgarnebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, Nergalsharezer, Rabmag, with all the residue of the princes of the king of Babylon.
a head person (of any rank or class) · noun, common masculine plural construct
king
מֶֽלֶךְMe.lekh-
H4428
a king · noun, common masculine singular construct
Babylon
בָּבֶ֔לba.Vel
H894
Babel (i.e. Babylon) · proper noun, a place name
in
וַיָּבֹ֗אוּvai.ya.Vo.'u
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
sat
וַיֵּשְׁב֖וּvai.ye.she.Vu
H3427
properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
middle
הַתָּ֑וֶךְha.Ta.vekh
H8432
a bisection · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
gate
בְּשַׁ֣עַרbe.Sha.'ar
H8179
an opening · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
Nergal-sharezer
נֵרְגַ֣לne.re.Gal
H5371
Nergal-Sharetser · proper noun, a man's name
Samgar-nebo
סַֽמְגַּרsam.gar-
H5562
Samgar-Nebo · proper noun, a man's name
Sarsechim
שַׂרsar-
H8310
Sarsekim · proper noun, a man's name
Rab-saris
רַבrav-
H7249
Rab-Saris · noun, common masculine singular construct
Nergal-sharezer
שַׂרsar-
H5371
Nergal-Sharetser · proper noun, a man's name
Rab-mag
רַבrav-
H7248
Rab-Mag · noun, common masculine singular construct
residue
שְׁאֵרִ֔יתshe.'e.Rit
H7611
a remainder or residual (surviving · noun, common feminine singular construct
princes
שָׂרֵ֖יsa.Rei
H8269
a head person (of any rank or class) · noun, common masculine plural construct
king
מֶ֥לֶךְMe.lekh
H4428
a king · noun, common masculine singular construct
Babylon
בָּבֶֽלba.Vel
H894
Babel (i.e. Babylon) · proper noun, a place name
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Jeremiah 21:4 Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king o…
Jeremiah 38:17 Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; If thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of…
Jeremiah 1:15 For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the LORD; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his th…
Jeremiah 39:13 So Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard sent, and Nebushasban, Rab-saris, and Nergal-sharezer, Rab-mag, and all the king of Babylon’s princ…
2 Kings 17:30 And the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 39:1-10
We were told, in the close of the foregoing chapter, that Jeremiah abode patiently in the court of the prison, until the day that Jerusalem was taken. He gave the princes no further disturbance by his prophesying, nor they him by their persecutions; for he had no more to say than what he had said, and, the siege being carried on briskly, God found them other work to do. See here what it came to.
I. The city is at length taken by storm; for how could it hold out when God himself fought against it? Nebuchadnezzar's army sat down before it in the ninth year of Zedekiah, in the tenth month (Jer 39:1), in the depth of winter. Nebuchadnezzar himself soon after retired to take his pleasure, and lef…
sat--expressing military occupation or encampment.
middle gate--the gate from the upper city (comprehending Mount Zion) to the lower city (north of the former and much lower); it was into the latter (the north side) that the Chaldeans forced an entry and took up their position opposite the gate of the "middle" wall, between the lower and upper city. Zedekiah fled in the opposite, that is, the south direction (Jer 39:4).
Nergalsharezer, Samgarnebo--proper names formed from those of the idols, Nergal and Nebo (Kg2 17:30; Isa 46:1).
Rab-saris--meaning "chief of the eunuchs."
Rab-mag--chief of the magi; brought with the expedition in order that its issue might be foreknown through his as…
And all the princes of the king of Babylon came in,.... Into the city: a breach being made in the walls to take possession of it:
and sat in the middle gate; according to Jarchi, this was a gate of the temple; the gate Nicanor, the eastern gate, which was between the gate of the court of the women and the gate of the temple; who observes, that their Rabbins say, the middle gate was the gate in which the wise men made their decrees and constitutions: so that, in "the place of judgment, wickedness was there"; as in Ecclesiastes 3:16; and Josephus (g) says, that the city was taken in the middle of the night, when the enemies' generals went into the temple; but rather, according to Kimchi, it w…
Dictionary and topics
Evil-merodach — Merodach’s man, the son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon (2 Kings 25:27; Jer. 52:31, 34). He seems to have reigned but two years (B.C. 562-560). Influenced probably by Daniel, he…
Jerusalem — Called also Salem, Ariel, Jebus, the “city of God,” the “holy city;” by the modern Arabs el-Khuds, meaning “the holy;” once “the city of Judah” (2 Chr. 25:28). This name is in the original in the…
Kings, The Books of — The two books of Kings formed originally but one book in the Hebrew Scriptures. The present division into two books was first made by the LXX., which now, with the Vulgate, numbers them as the third…
Nergal-sharezer — Nergal, protect the king! (1.) One of the “princes of the king of Babylon who accompanied him in his last expedition against Jerusalem” (Jer. 39:3, 13). (2.) Another of the “princes,” who bore the…
Nergalsharezer — (prince of fire) occurs only in (Jeremiah 39:3) and Jere 39:13 There appear to have been two persons in the name among the “princes of the king of Babylon” who accompanied Nebuchadnezzar on his last…
Rabmag — Assyrian Rab-mugi, “chief physician,” “who was attached to the king (Jer. 39:3, 13), the title of one of Sennacherib’s officers sent with messages to Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem (2 Kings…
Rabsaris — Chief of the Heads, one of the three officers whom Sennacherib sent from Lachish with a threatening message to Jerusalem (2 Kings 18:17; Jer. 39:3, 13).
Samgar-nebo — Be gracious, O Nebo! or a cup-bearer of Nebo, probably the title of Nergal-sharezer, one of the princes of Babylon (Jer. 39:3).
Samgarnebo — (sword of Nebo), one of the princes or generals of the king of Babylon. (Jeremiah 39:3)
Sarsechim — (prince of the eunuchs), one of the generals of Nebuchadnezzar’s army at the taking of Jerusalem. (Jeremiah 39:3) (B.C. 588.)
Jeremiah 39:3-4
3. And all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate, even Nergalsharezer, Samgarnebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, Nergalsharezer, Rabmag, with all the residue of the princes of the king of Babylon.
3. Et ingressi sunt omnes duces regis Babylonis, et sederunt in porta media, Neregal, Sarezer, Samegar, Nebusarzechin Rabsaris, Neregal, Sarezer, Rabmag, et residuum ducum (hoc est, et alii duces) regis Babylonis.
4. 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 o…
In Jer 39:1-14 the events which took place at the taking of Jerusalem are summarily related, for the purpose of showing how the announcements of Jeremiah the prophet have been fulfilled.
(Note: The greater portion of the section Jer 39:1-14 is set down by Movers, Hitzig, Ewald, and Graf as the interpolation of a later glosser, compiled either out of Jer 52:4-16, or from 2 Kings 25. Jer 39:3, Jer 39:11, Jer 39:12, and Jer 39:14 are supposed by Hitzig to be all that are genuine, on the ground that these are the only portions containing independent statements, not derived from any other source. They treat simply of the person of the prophet, and state how, at the command of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebu…
High-ranking officers came into the city to oversee its destruction and sat in triumph at the Middle Gate, showing how important this victory was to the Babylonians. According to custom, victorious officials positioned themselves at one of the gates, since judicial and administrative matters were controlled at gateways.
Rashi on Jeremiah 39:3
And all the officers of the king of Babylon came and sat in the middle gate, etc. [This] tells [us] that here the above prophecy, “And they will come and place, each one his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, etc.” (1:15) was fulfilled.
in the middle gate Heb. בשער התוך. Jonathan renders: in the middle gate, the gate of the Temple court, the Nicanor Gate, the Eastern Gate, and it is between the gate of the Women’s Court and the gate of the Temple proper. And our Rabbis (Sanh. 103a) said: The gate where the halachoth were decided (מחתכים). Concerning them, Scripture says. “The place of judgment there is wickedness” (Ecc. 3:16).
— Righteousness of Jehovah. (1.) The last king of Judah. He was the third son of Josiah, and his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah, and hence he was the brother of Jehoahaz…
Gates · Thrones of kings at — Thrones of kings at
Jerusalem · Calamities of, mentioned: Taken and burned by Nebuchadnezzar — Calamities of, mentioned: Taken and burned by Nebuchadnezzar
Nergal-Sharezer · The name of a senior officer with Nebuchadnezzars army — The name of a senior officer with Nebuchadnezzars army
Rab-Mag · An Assyrian prince, or, possibly, a second name given to Nergal-sharezer — An Assyrian prince, or, possibly, a second name given to Nergal-sharezer
Rabsaris · N. I. V.) — N. I. V.)
Samgar-Nebo · General references — General references
Sarsechim · Present at the — Present at the
Zedekiah · to Babylon, blinds his eyes, kills his — to Babylon, blinds his eyes, kills his
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
