11 A son of twenty and one years 'is' Zedekiah in his reigning, and eleven years he hath reigned in Jerusalem; 12 and he doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah his God, he hath not been humbled before Jeremiah the prophet 'speaking' from the mouth of Jehovah; 13 and also, against king Nebuchadnezzar he hath rebelled, who had caused him to swear by God, and he hardeneth his neck, and strengtheneth his heart, against turning back unto Jehovah, God of Israel. 14 Also, all the heads of the priests, and the people, having multiplied to commit a trespass according to all the abominations of the nations, and they defile the house of Jehovah that He hath sanctified in Jerusalem. 15 And Jehovah, God of their fathers, sendeth unto them by the hand of His messengers—rising early and sending—for He hath had pity on His people, and on His habitation, 16 and they are mocking at the messengers of God, and despising His words, and acting deceitfully with His prophets, till the going up of the fury of Jehovah against His people—till there is no healing.
17 And He causeth to go up against them the king of the Chaldeans, and he slayeth their chosen ones by the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and hath had no pity on young man and virgin, old man and very aged—the whole He hath given into his hand. 18 And all the vessels of the house of God, the great and the small, and the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king and of his princes—the whole he hath brought in to Babylon. 19 And they burn the house of God, and break down the wall of Jerusalem, and all its palaces they have burnt with fire, and all its desirable vessels—to destruction. 20 And he removeth those left of the sword unto Babylon, and they are to him and to his sons for servants, till the reigning of the kingdom of Persia, 21 to fulfil the word of Jehovah in the mouth of Jeremiah, till the land hath enjoyed its sabbaths; all the days of the desolation it kept sabbath—to the fulness of seventy years.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 2 Chronicles 36:11-21
Commentary on 2 Chronicles 36:1-21
(Read 2 Chronicles 36:1-21)
The ruin of Judah and Jerusalem came on by degrees. The methods God takes to call back sinners by his word, by ministers, by conscience, by providences, are all instances of his compassion toward them, and his unwillingness that any should perish. See here what woful havoc sin makes, and, as we value the comfort and continuance of our earthly blessings, let us keep that worm from the root of them. They had many times ploughed and sowed their land in the seventh year, when it should have rested, and now it lay unploughed and unsown for ten times seven years. God will be no loser in his glory at last, by the disobedience of men. If they refused to let the land rest, God would make it rest. What place, O God, shall thy justice spare, if Jerusalem has perished? If that delight of thine were cut off for wickedness, let us not be high-minded, but fear.