The Fall of Jerusalem Recounted
(Psalms 74:1–23; Psalms 79:1–13; 2 Kings 24:18–20; 2 Chronicles 36:11–14)
Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah. 2Ki 24:18Jos 10:292Ch 36:112Ki 8:22Jos 15:42
And Zedekiah did evil in the sight of the LORD, just as Jehoiakim had done. 1Ki 14:222Ki 24:19-20Ezk 17:16-20Ezk 21:25Jer 26:21-23Jer 36:21-23Jer 36:29-312Ch 36:12-13 For because of the anger of the LORD, all this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, until He finally banished them from His presence. 2Ch 36:13Isa 3:1Isa 3:4-51Ki 10:92Sa 24:1Ecc 10:16Ezk 17:12-21Isa 19:4
And Zedekiah also rebelled against the king of Babylon.
So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army. They encamped outside the city and built a siege wall all around it. Jer 39:1Ezk 24:1-2Zec 8:19Jer 32:24Jer 52:72Ki 25:1-27Deu 28:52-57Ezk 21:22 And the city was kept under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year.
By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that the people of the land had no food. Isa 3:1Jer 39:22Ki 25:3Jer 38:9Deu 28:52-53Deu 32:24Ezk 14:21Ezk 4:9-17 Then the city was breached; and though the Chaldeans 1had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled the city by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden. 2Ki 25:4Jer 39:4-7Jer 51:32Deu 28:25Deu 32:30Jer 34:2-3Jer 49:26Jos 7:8-12
They headed toward the Arabah, 2 but the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was separated from him. Jer 34:21Jer 21:7Jer 32:4Jer 38:23Amo 2:14-15Amo 9:1-4Ezk 12:12-14Ezk 17:20-21
The Chaldeans seized the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced judgment on Zedekiah. Jer 39:5Num 13:212Ki 25:6Jos 13:51Ki 8:652Ch 33:112Ch 8:32Ki 23:33
There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also killed all the officials of Judah. Jer 22:302Ki 25:72Ki 25:18-21Deu 28:34Ezk 11:7-11Gen 21:16Gen 44:34Jer 39:6-7 Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon, where he kept him in custody until his dying day. Ezk 12:13Jer 34:3-5
The Temple Destroyed
(2 Kings 25:8–17)
On the tenth day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign over Babylon, Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem. 2Ki 25:8Jer 39:9Jer 52:29Zec 8:192Ki 24:12Gen 37:36Jer 52:14Zec 7:3-5 He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building. 2Ch 36:19Mic 3:12Psa 79:12Ki 25:9Amo 2:5Amo 3:10-11Amo 6:11Isa 64:10-11 And the whole army of the Chaldeans under the captain of the guard broke down all the walls around Jerusalem. Neh 1:32Ki 25:10
Then Nebuzaradan captain of the guard carried into exile some of the poorest people and those who remained in the city, along with the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon and the rest of the craftsmen. Jer 15:1-2Zec 14:2 But Nebuzaradan captain of the guard left behind some of the poorest of the land to tend the vineyards and fields. 2Ki 25:12Jer 39:9-10Jer 40:5-7Ezk 33:24
Moreover, the Chaldeans broke up the bronze pillars and stands and the bronze Sea in the house of the LORD, and they carried all the bronze to Babylon. Jer 27:19-222Ch 4:12-15Jer 52:21-231Ki 7:15-371Ki 7:502Ch 36:182Ki 25:13-17Dan 1:2 They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes, and all the articles of bronze used in the temple service. 1Ki 7:45Exo 27:3Num 4:141Ki 7:401Ch 28:171Ki 7:502Ch 4:112Ch 4:16 The captain of the guard also took away the basins, censers, sprinkling bowls, pots, lampstands, pans, and drink offering bowls—anything made of pure gold or fine silver. 1Ki 7:49-502Ch 4:6-222Ki 25:15Exo 25:31-39Lev 26:12Num 16:46Rev 8:3-5
As for the two pillars, the Sea, the twelve bronze bulls under it, and the movable stands that King Solomon had made for the house of the LORD, the weight of the bronze from all these articles was beyond measure. 1Ki 7:472Ki 25:161Ch 22:142Ch 4:18 Each pillar was eighteen cubits tall and twelve cubits in circumference; 3 each was hollow, four fingers thick. 4 2Ki 25:171Ki 7:15-212Ch 3:15-17 The bronze capital atop one pillar was five cubits high, 5 with a network of bronze pomegranates all around. The second pillar, with its pomegranates, was similar. 1Ki 7:16-172Ch 3:152Ch 4:12-132Ki 25:17Exo 28:14-22Exo 28:25Exo 39:15-18 Each capital had ninety-six pomegranates on the sides, and a total of a hundred pomegranates were above the surrounding network. 1Ki 7:20
Captives Carried to Babylon
(2 Kings 25:18–21)
The captain of the guard also took away Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest of second rank, and the three doorkeepers. 2Ki 25:181Ch 6:14Jer 21:1Jer 29:25Jer 35:4Jer 37:3Ezr 7:1Jer 29:29 Of those still in the city, he took a court official who had been appointed over the men of war, as well as seven trusted royal advisers. He also took the scribe of the captain of the army, who had enlisted the people of the land, and sixty men who were found in the city. 2Ki 25:19Est 1:14Mat 18:10
Nebuzaradan captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. There at Riblah in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death. So Judah was taken into exile, away from its own land. Ezk 33:28Ezk 8:11-18Isa 27:10Isa 32:13-14Isa 6:11-12Jer 25:9-11Mic 4:102Ki 17:20
These are the people Nebuchadnezzar carried away: 2Ki 24:12-162Ki 24:2-3Dan 1:1-32Ch 36:20
in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews;
in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year, 832 people from Jerusalem; Gen 12:5Jer 52:122Ch 36:202Ki 25:11Exo 1:5Jer 39:9
in Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year, Nebuzaradan captain of the guard carried away 745 Jews. Jer 52:15Jer 6:9
So in all, 4,600 people were taken away.
Jehoiachin Released from Prison
(2 Kings 25:27–30)
On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the first year of the reign of Evil-merodach king of Babylon, he pardoned 6Jehoiachin king of Judah and released him from prison. 2Ki 25:27-30Psa 3:3Gen 40:13Pro 21:1Psa 27:6Gen 40:20Job 22:29 And he spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and set his throne above the thrones of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. Pro 12:25Dan 2:37Dan 5:18-19Jer 27:6-11
So Jehoiachin changed out of his prison clothes, and he dined regularly at the king’s table for the rest of his life. 2Sa 9:71Ki 2:72Sa 9:13Gen 41:14Gen 41:42Isa 61:1-3Psa 30:11Zec 3:4 And the king of Babylon provided Jehoiachin a daily portion for the rest of his life, until the day of his death. 2Sa 9:10Luk 11:3Mat 6:11