Jeremiah 39:6

6 The king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah's children at Riblah before his very own eyes, and the king of Babylon slaughtered all the officials of Judah.

Jeremiah 39:6 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 39:6

Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah
before his eyes
Not with his own hands, but gave orders to do it: these must be very young, at least some of them; since Zedekiah at this time was but thirty two years of age. This must be a dreadful spectacle for him to behold; and the consideration must be cutting, that it was owing to his own obstinacy in not taking the advice of the Prophet Jeremiah to surrender to the Chaldeans, whereby he and his family would have been saved, ( Jeremiah 38:17 ) ; also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah;
who did not come over to the Chaldean army and surrender themselves; such who advised the king to stand out to the last, and who fled, and were taken with him; as many of them as fell into the hands of the king of Babylon. Jarchi says those were the sanhedrim, who loosed Zedekiah from his oath to Nebuchadnezzar.

Jeremiah 39:6 In-Context

4 When Judah's King Zedekiah and his troops saw them, they tried to escape at night through the royal gardens and the gate between the two walls, toward the desert plain.

5 But the Babylonian army chased them down and caught Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. They arrested him and brought him before Babylon's King Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah in the land of Hamath. There the king put him on trial.

6 The king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah's children at Riblah before his very own eyes, and the king of Babylon slaughtered all the officials of Judah.

7 Then he gouged out Zedekiah's eyes, bound him in chains, and dragged him off to Babylon.

8 The Babylonians burned down the royal palace and the houses of the people, and they destroyed the Jerusalem walls.