2 Kings 25:1-11

1 So on January 15, during the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon led his entire army against Jerusalem. They surrounded the city and built siege ramps against its walls.

2 Jerusalem was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah’s reign.

3 By July 18 in the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s reign, the famine in the city had become very severe, and the last of the food was entirely gone.

4 Then a section of the city wall was broken down. Since the city was surrounded by the Babylonians, the soldiers waited for nightfall and escaped through the gate between the two walls behind the king’s garden. Then they headed toward the Jordan Valley.

5 But the Babylonian troops chased the king and overtook him on the plains of Jericho, for his men had all deserted him and scattered.

6 They captured the king and took him to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where they pronounced judgment upon Zedekiah.

7 They made Zedekiah watch as they slaughtered his sons. Then they gouged out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him in bronze chains, and led him away to Babylon.

8 On August 14 of that year, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard and an official of the Babylonian king, arrived in Jerusalem.

9 He burned down the Temple of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He destroyed all the important buildings in the city.

10 Then he supervised the entire Babylonian army as they tore down the walls of Jerusalem on every side.

11 Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took as exiles the rest of the people who remained in the city, the defectors who had declared their allegiance to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the population.

2 Kings 25:1-11 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 25

In this chapter is an account of the siege, taking, and burning of the city of Jerusalem, and of the carrying captive the king and the inhabitants to Babylon, 2Ki 25:1-12, as also of the pillars and vessels of the temple brought thither, 2Ki 25:13-17 and of the putting to death several of the principal persons of the land, 2Ki 25:18-22, and of the miserable condition of the rest under Gedaliah, whom Ishmael slew, 2Ki 25:23-26, and the chapter, and so the history, is concluded with the kindness Jehoiachin met with from the king of Babylon, after thirty seven years' captivity, 2Ki 25:27-30.

&c.] Of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah. From hence to the end of 2Ki 25:7, the account exactly agrees with Jer 52:4-11. 18182-941226-1348-2Ki25.2

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew on the tenth day of the tenth month, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. A number of events in 2 Kings can be cross-checked with dates in surviving Babylonian records and related accurately to our modern calendar. This day was January 15, 588
• [b]. Hebrew By the ninth day of the [fourth] month [in the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s reign] (compare Jer 39:2 ; 52:6 and the notes there). This day was July 18, 586 ; also see note on 25:1 .
• [c]. Or the Chaldeans; also in 25:13, 25, 26 .
• [d]. As in Greek version (see also Jer 39:4 ; 52:7 ); Hebrew lacks escaped.
• [e]. Hebrew the Arabah.
• [f]. Or Chaldean ; also in 25:10, 24 .
• [g]. Hebrew On the seventh day of the fifth month, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. This day was August 14, 586 ; also see note on 25:1 .
• [h]. Or destroyed the houses of all the important people.