Jeremiah 52:1-8 ▼

1 Zedekiah (YHWH is righteous) was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem (city of peace) eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal (father-in-law is protection) daughter of Jeremiah (whom YHWH has appointed); she was from Libnah (pavement).

2 And Zedekiah did evil in the sight of the LORD {YHWH}, just as Jehoiakim (YHWH raises up) had done.

3 For because of the anger of the LORD {YHWH}, all this happened in Jerusalem (city of peace) and Judah (praised), until He finally banished them from His presence. And Zedekiah also (YHWH is righteous) rebelled against the king of Babylon (confusion by mixing).

4 So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar (may Nebo protect the crown) king of Babylon (confusion by mixing) marched against Jerusalem (city of peace) with his entire army. They encamped outside the city and built a siege wall all around it.

5 And the city was kept under siege until King Zedekiah’s (YHWH is righteous) eleventh year.

6 By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that the people of the land had no food.

7 Then the city was breached; and though the Chaldeans (the Babylonians) had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled the city by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden. They headed toward the Arabah (the Jordan Valley),

8 but the army of the Chaldeans (clod-breakers) pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah (YHWH is righteous) in the plains of Jericho (city of palms), and his whole army deserted him.