2 Kings 24:17

17 And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, his father's brother, king in place of Jehoiachin, changing his name to Zedekiah.

2 Kings 24:17 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 24:17

And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his father's brother
king in his stead
The third son of Josiah, ( 1 Chronicles 3:15 )

and changed his name to Zedekiah;
for the same reason the king of Egypt changed the name of Eliakim, ( 2 Kings 23:34 ) to signify his subjection to him; though some think it was to put him in mind of the justice of God, as the name signifies, that would overtake him, should he be treacherous to him, and rebel against him; so the Jewish Midrash.

2 Kings 24:17 In-Context

15 He took Jehoiachin a prisoner to Babylon, with his mother and his wives and his unsexed servants and the great men of the land; he took them all as prisoners from Jerusalem to Babylon.

16 And all the men of war, seven thousand of them, and a thousand expert workmen and metal-workers, all of them strong and able to take up arms, the king of Babylon took away as prisoners into Babylon.

17 And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, his father's brother, king in place of Jehoiachin, changing his name to Zedekiah.

18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he was king in Jerusalem for eleven years; his mother's name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

19 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as Jehoiakim had done.