2 Kings 24:16-20

24:16 The king of Babylon deported to Babylon all the soldiers (there were 7,000), as well as 1,000 craftsmen and metal workers. This included all the best warriors. ¹  24:17 The king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s ²  uncle, king in Jehoiachin’s place. He renamed him Zedekiah.

Zedekiah’s Reign over Judah

24:18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled for eleven years in Jerusalem. ³  His mother ⁴  was Hamutal, ⁵  the daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah. 24:19 He did evil in the sight of ⁶  the Lord, as Jehoiakim had done. ⁷ 

24:20 What follows is a record of what happened to Jerusalem and Judah because of the Lord’s anger; he finally threw them out of his presence. ⁸  Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

[24:16]  ¹ tn Heb “the entire [group], mighty men, doers of war.”

[24:17]  ² tn Heb “his.”

[24:18]  ³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[24:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “the name of his mother.”

[24:18]  ⁵ tc Some textual witnesses support the consonantal text (Kethib) in reading “Hamital.”

[24:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[24:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “according to all which Jehoiakim had done.”

[24:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “Surely [or, ‘for’] because of the anger of the Lord this happened in Jerusalem and Judah until he threw them out from upon his face.”