2 Kings 25:3

25:3 By the ninth day of the fourth month ¹  the famine in the city was so severe the residents ²  had no food.

2 Kings 25:1

25:1 So King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and set up camp outside ³  it. They built siege ramps all around it. He arrived on the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign. ⁴ 

2 Kings 25:8

Nebuchadnezzar Destroys Jerusalem

25:8 On the seventh ⁵  day of the fifth month, ⁶  in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard ⁷  who served the king of Babylon, arrived in Jerusalem. ⁸ 

2 Kings 25:27

Jehoiachin in Babylon

25:27 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, on the twenty-seventh ⁹  day of the twelfth month, ¹⁰  King Evil-Merodach of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, pardoned ¹¹  King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him ¹²  from prison.

2 Kings 4:23

4:23 He said, “Why do you want to go see him today? It is not the new moon ¹³  or the Sabbath.” She said, “Everything’s fine.” ¹⁴ 

2 Kings 15:8

Zechariah’s Reign over Israel

15:8 In the thirty-eighth year of King Azariah’s reign over Judah, Jeroboam’s son Zechariah became king over Israel. He reigned in Samaria ¹⁵  for six months.

2 Kings 23:31

Jehoahaz’s Reign over Judah

23:31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. ¹⁶  His mother ¹⁷  was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah.

2 Kings 24:8

Jehoiachin’s Reign over Judah

24:8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. ¹⁸  His mother ¹⁹  was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan, from Jerusalem.

2 Kings 25:25

25:25 But in the seventh month ²⁰  Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family, ²¹  came with ten of his men and murdered Gedaliah, ²²  as well as the Judeans and Babylonians who were with him at Mizpah.

¹ tn The MT has simply “of the month,” but the parallel passage in Jer 52:6 has “fourth month,” and this is followed by almost all English translations. The word “fourth,” however, is not actually present in the MT of 2 Kgs 25:3.

² tn Heb “the people of the land.”

³ tn Or “against.”

⁴ sn This would have been Jan 15, 588 b.c. The reckoning is based on the calendar that begins the year in the spring (Nisan = March/April).

⁵ tn The parallel account in Jer 52:12 has “tenth.”

⁶ sn The seventh day of the month would have been August 14, 586 b.c. in modern reckoning.

⁷ tn For the meaning of this phrase see BDB 371 s.v. טַבָּח 2, and compare the usage in Gen 39:1.

⁸ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁷ sn The parallel account in Jer 52:31 has “twenty-fifth.”

⁸ sn The twenty-seventh day would be March 22, 561 b.c. in modern reckoning.

⁹ tn Heb “lifted up the head of.”

¹⁰ tn The words “released him” are supplied in the translation on the basis of Jer 52:31.

⁹ sn The new moon was a time of sacrifice and special feasts (Num 28:14; 1 Sam 20:5). Apparently it was a convenient time to visit a prophet. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 57.

¹⁰ tn Heb “peace.”

¹¹ map For location see Map2-B1; Map4-D3; Map5-E2; Map6-A4; Map7-C1.

¹³ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹⁴ tn Heb “the name of his mother.”

¹⁵ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹⁶ tn Heb “the name of his mother.”

¹⁷ sn It is not altogether clear whether this is in the same year that Jerusalem fell or not. The wall was breached in the fourth month (= early July; Jer 39:2) and Nebuzaradan came and burned the palace, the temple, and many of the houses and tore down the wall in the fifth month (= early August; Jer 52:12). That would have left time between the fifth month and the seventh month (October) to gather in the harvest of grapes, dates and figs, and olives (Jer 40:12). However, many commentators feel that too much activity takes place in too short a time for this to have been in the same year and posit that it happened the following year or even five years later when a further deportation took place, possibly in retaliation for the murder of Gedaliah and the Babylonian garrison at Mizpah (Jer 52:30). The assassination of Gedaliah had momentous consequences and was commemorated in one of the post exilic fast days lamenting the fall of Jerusalem (Zech 8:19).

¹⁸ tn Heb “[was] from the seed of the kingdom.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “and they struck down Gedaliah and he died.”