Jeremiah 52

 These are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive...All the persons were four thousand six hundred. vv.28-30

Read chapter 52
In this last chapter of Jeremiah we read a full review of the fall of Jerusalem.  The fall wasn't just a surprise attack out of nowhere but a long battle that finally came to an end.  We see from this review that there were three deportations of the Jews into captivity under Babylon throughout these years of siege and battle.  We realize these three deportations when we look at the rest of scripture at that time.  For example with Daniel and his friends Hananiah, Michael, and Azariah, we read, "Then the king instructed Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, to bring some of the children of Israel and some of the king’s descendants and some of the nobles, young men in whom there was no blemish, but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand, who had ability to serve in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the language and literature of the Chaldeans" (Daniel 1:3-4).  These were the cream-of-the crop so to say, they first class of the Jews that were taken first into captivity that the lower, poor classes were left still in Jerusalem and Judea.  Later Babylon takes more men of Israel into captivity and then the rest in the third deportation and the final destruction of Jerusalem.  It blows my mind that only 4,600 people total went into captivity in Babylon.  Yet we read of the 42,000 that return later to the land after captivity, still a small number compared to what Israel and Judah once were (millions of people).  The book of Jeremiah not only had prophesies of Judah's captivity and downfall but also of restoration afterwards and we see how all God's words through Jeremiah have come true so far and will continue to prove true as we see God's kingdom come in.
Jeremiah is a weighty book, but still challenges us today perseverance in our walk with God.   How has the last 52 days of devotionals through the book of Jeremiah challenged you as a believer today?