Jeremiah 52:1-11

The Reign of Zedekiah

52¹ Zedekiah 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. ² And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as Jehoiakim had done. ³ And 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.

The Fall of Jerusalem

⁴ And 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. ⁵ So the town was shut in by their forces till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. ⁶ In 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. ⁷ Then 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. ⁸ And 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. ⁹ Then 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. ¹⁰ And 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. ¹¹ And 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.