ash layer of Level II at the site reflects the attack of Nebuchadnezzar. The city gate was destroyed at this time, and its ash layer seals the occupation layer beneath it; that occupation layer contains the Lachish ostraca and Late Judean pottery. One of the letters embedded in the destruction debris opens with a date, “In the ninth [year] …” This date should bring to mind 2 Kings 25:1, which says, “And in the ninth year of his reign [i.e., Zedekiah], in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month,