2 Kings 24:17-25:7

English Standard Version

^17 (A)And the king of Babylon ^(B)made Mattaniah, ^(C)Jehoiachin's uncle, king in his place, ^(D)and changed his name to Zedekiah.

Zedekiah Reigns in Judah

^18 (E)Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was ^(F)Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. ¹⁹ And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(G)according to all that Jehoiakim had done. ²⁰ For because of the anger of the Lord it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast them out from his presence.

^(H)And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

Fall and Captivity of Judah

25 ^(I)And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, ^(J)Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem and laid siege to it. ^(K)And they built siegeworks all around it. ² So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. ³ On the ninth day of the fourth month ^(L)the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. ⁴ Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, by ^(M)the king's garden, and ^(N)the Chaldeans were around the city. And they went in the direction of the ^(O)Arabah. ⁵ But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him. ⁶ Then they captured the king ^(P)and brought him up to the king of Babylon at ^(Q)Riblah, and they passed sentence on him. ⁷ They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, ^(R)and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains and took him to Babylon.