Jeremiah 39:2

Jer 39:2 [And] in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth [day] of the month, the city was broken up.

Ver. 2. And in the eleventh year.] See on 2Ki 25:2. The sacking of Jerusalem occured four hundred and nineteen years after the building of the temple, (1004 to 588 BC) in the forty-seventh Olympiad, and when Tarquinius Priseus was king of Rome.

The city was broken up.] See on 2Ki 25:4.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

39:2 The Babylonian siege took a long time because the stone walls of Jerusalem were thick and the people’s resistance was strong.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The gates and walls were broken down.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 2. The eleventh year - in the fourth month] This month in the Hebrew calendar is called Thammuz, and commences with the first new moon of our July. The siege had lasted just eighteen months.

The city was broken up.] A breach was made in the wall by which the Chaldeans entered.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

It then follows, In the eleventh year, in the fourth month, the city was broken up We hence see that the city was besieged for a year and half; for there was the whole of the tenth year, and then added must be two months of the ninth year and four months of the eleventh year; and thus a year and half was the whole time. Here also we must remember how much the Jews must have suffered; for were a city at this day to bear a siege for a few months, it would appear a rare instance of valor; but Jerusalem was besieged for a year and half. Let us now consider what number of people must have been there, and we have seen that the Prophet threatened them with famine. And how much scarcity there was in the city, the Prophet has not only testified elsewhere, but in the book of Lamentations he has shewed most fully. (Lamentations 4:10.) And there was not only famine, but it was followed by pestilence. We hence learn how ferocious must have been the character of the king, that he could see miserable men perishing by scores, and yet persist in his obstinacy. Nor is there a doubt but that the people were also on their part obstinate, and became at length stupefied through their sufferings; for there was hardly one, from the least to the greatest, who did not despise what the Prophet taught; and thus they were all blinded by madness and stupidity.

It ought to be noticed that they bore a siege for a year and six months, and that they were not even then persuaded to surrender themselves, until the city was broken up, that is, until the walls were beaten down by battering-rams and other warlike engines; for the city was broken when the wall, beaten by the engines, fell down. In short, the city was gained by storm; this is what is meant, and will hereafter be more fully expressed. But I cannot proceed further now.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month,.... The month Tammuz, which answers to part of June, and part of July:

the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up; or taken by storm; the walls of it were broken by engines and battering rams, so that the Chaldeans could enter it, and take it. This was just a year and a half after it had been besieged, not being able to hold out any longer, because of the famine; see Jer 52:6.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Fifth. The parallel passages and other editions read ninth. Some pretend that (Calmet) the city was taken on the 5th of the 4th month, and after being pillaged was burnt on the 7th (4 Kings xxiv. 8.) or 10th of the 5th month, chap. lii. 12. (Sanctius; Cornelius a Lapide) --- But the city was taken on the 9th of the 4th month, and Nabuzardan entered on the 7th of the 5th month, and burnt it and the temple on the 10th. (Salien, &c.) (Calmet) --- From the beginning of the siege (the year of the world 3414) to the end (the year 3416.; Usher), two years and a half elapsed. It was interrupted a short time. Two fasts are still observed by the Jews to deplore these events, Zacharias vii. 3., and viii. 19.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The siege lasted a year and half, for it was the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year before it was taken: it is said here to be broken up, because their way of taking fortified places then was by beating down the walls of the besieged with iron rams and engines, as we now do with great guns. This kingdom had now held three hundred and eighty years, from Rehoboam their first king, in which they had had twenty kings (besides Athaliah). The ten tribes had been now in captivity one hundred and thirty years, so as the kingdom of Israel stood but two hundred and fifty years after the division, in which time they had had eighteen princes, but of several families; all the kings of Judah were of the house of David, lineally descended from him.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

fourth month

i.e. July.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.