1Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king; he was king for eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 2And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as Jehoiakim had done. 3And because of the wrath of the Lord this came about in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had sent them away from before him: and Zedekiah took up arms against the king of Babylon. 4And in the ninth year of his rule, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, came against Jerusalem with all his army and took up his position before it, building earthworks all round it. 5So the town was shut in by their forces till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 6In the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the store of food in the town was almost gone, so that there was no food for the people of the land. 7Then an opening was made in the wall of the town, and all the men of war went in flight out of the town by night through the doorway between the two walls which was by the king's garden; (now the Chaldaeans were stationed round the town:) and they went by the way of the Arabah. 8And the Chaldaean army went after King Zedekiah and overtook him on the other side of Jericho, and all his army went in flight from him in every direction. 9Then they made the king a prisoner and took him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath to be judged. 10And the king of Babylon put the sons of Zedekiah to death before his eyes: and he put to death all the rulers of Judah in Riblah. 11And he put out Zedekiah's eyes; and the king of Babylon, chaining him in iron bands, took him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death. 12Now in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the armed men, a servant of the king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem. 13And he had the house of the Lord and the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, burned with fire: 14And the walls round Jerusalem were broken down by the Chaldaean army which was with the captain. 15Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the armed men, took away as prisoners the rest of the people who were still in the town, and those who had given themselves up to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the workmen. 16But Nebuzaradan, the captain of the armed men, let the poorest of the land go on living there, to take care of the vines and the fields. 17And the brass pillars which were in the house of the Lord, and the wheeled bases and the great brass water-vessel in the house of the Lord, were broken up by the Chaldaeans, who took all the brass away to Babylon. 18And the pots and the spades and the scissors for the lights and the spoons, and all the brass vessels used in the Lord's house, they took away. 19And the cups and the fire-trays and the basins and the pots and the supports for the lights and the spoons and the wide basins; the gold of the gold vessels, and the silver of the silver vessels, the captain of the armed men took away. 20The two pillars, the great water-vessel, and the twelve brass oxen which were under it, and the ten wheeled bases, which King Solomon had made for the house of the Lord: the brass of all these vessels was without weight. 21And as for the pillars, one pillar was eighteen cubits high, and twelve cubits measured all round, and it was as thick as a man's hand: it was hollow. 22And there was a crown of brass on it: the crown was five cubits high, circled with a network and apples all of brass; and the second pillar had the same. 23There were ninety-six apples on the outside; the number of apples all round the network was a hundred. 24And the captain of the armed men took Seraiah, the chief priest, and Zephaniah, the second priest, and the three door-keepers; 25And from the town he took the unsexed servant who was over the men of war, and seven of the king's near friends who were in the town, and the scribe of the captain of the army, who was responsible for getting the people of the land together in military order, and sixty men of the people of the land who were in the town. 26These Nebuzaradan, the captain of the armed men, took with him to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 27And the king of Babylon put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was taken prisoner away from his land. 28These are the people whom Nebuchadrezzar took away prisoner: in the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Jews: 29And in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar he took away as prisoners from Jerusalem eight hundred and thirty-two persons: 30In the twenty-third year of Nebuchadrezzar, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the armed men, took away as prisoners seven hundred and forty-five of the Jews: all the persons were four thousand and six hundred. 31And in the thirty-seventh year after Jehoiachin, king of Judah, had been taken prisoner, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, Evil-merodach, king of Babylon, in the first year after he became king, took Jehoiachin, king of Judah, out of prison. 32And he said kind words to him and put his seat higher than the seats of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. 33And his prison clothing was changed, and he was a guest at the king's table every day for the rest of his life. 34And for his food, the king gave him a regular amount every day till the day of his death, for the rest of his life.
Matthew Henry's Commentary
The fate of Zedekiah. (1-11) The destruction of Jerusalem. (12-23) The captivities. (24-30) The advancement of Jehoiachin. (31-34) 1-11 This fruit of sin we should pray against above any thing; Cast me not away from thy presence, #Ps 51:11|. None are cast out of God's presence but those who by sin have first thrown themselves out. Zedekiah's flight was in vain, for there is no escaping the judgments of God; they come upon the sinner, and overtake him, let him flee where he will. 12-23 The Chaldean army made woful havoc. But nothing is so particularly related here, as the carrying away of the articles in the temple. The remembrance of their beauty and value shows us the more the evil of sin. 24-30 The leaders of the Jews caused them to err; but now they are, in particular, made monuments of Divine justice. Here is an account of two earlier captivities. This people often were wonders both of judgment and mercy. 31-34 See this history of king Jehoiachin in #2Ki 25:27-30|. Those under oppression will find it is not in vain for them to hope and quietly to wait for the salvation of the Lord. Our times are in God's hand, for the hearts of all we have to deal with are so. May we be enabled, more and more, to rest on the Rock of Ages, and to look forward with holy faith to that hour, when the Lord will bring again Zion, and overthrow all the enemies of the church.