2 Kings 24:17–25:7

Zedekiah Reigns in Judah

¹⁷Then ^wthe king of Babylon made Mattaniah, ^xJehoiachin’s ⁴uncle, king in his place, and ^ychanged his name to Zedekiah.

^18zZedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was ^aHamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. ^19bHe also did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. ²⁰For because of the anger of the Lord this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, that He finally cast them out from His presence. ^cThen Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

The Fall and Captivity of Judah

25Now it came to pass ^ain the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around. ²So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. ³By the ninth day of the ^bfourth month the famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.

⁴Then ^cthe city wall was broken through, and all the men of war fled at night by way of the gate between two walls, which was by the king’s garden, even though the Chaldeans were still encamped all around against the city. And ^dthe king ¹went by way of the ²plain. ⁵But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and they overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his army was scattered from him. ⁶So they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon ^eat Riblah, and they pronounced judgment on him. ⁷Then they killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, ^fput ³out the eyes of Zedekiah, bound him with bronze fetters, and took him to Babylon.