Zedekiah’s Reign over Judah

18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled for eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah. 19 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, as Jehoiakim had done.

20 What follows is a record of what happened to Jerusalem and Judah because of the Lord’s anger; he finally threw them out of his presence. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

25 So King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and set up camp outside it. They built siege ramps all around it. He arrived on the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign. 2 The city remained under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year. 3 By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city was so severe the residents had no food. 4 The enemy broke through the city walls, and all the soldiers tried to escape. They left the city during the night. They went through the gate between the two walls that is near the king’s garden. (The Babylonians were all around the city.) Then they headed for the Jordan Valley. 5 But the Babylonian army chased after the king. They caught up with him in the plains of Jericho, and his entire army deserted him. 6 They captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where he passed sentence on him. 7 Zedekiah’s sons were executed while Zedekiah was forced to watch. The king of Babylon then had Zedekiah’s eyes put out, bound him in bronze chains, and carried him off to Babylon.