Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

52 Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king. His reign in Jerusalem lasted for a total of 11 years. His mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah (not the prophet of Anathoth). ² Zedekiah committed evil in the eyes of the Eternal, just as Jehoiakim had done. ³ All that then happened to Jerusalem and Judah took place because of the Eternal’s anger. He finally forced them out of the land and away from His presence. It was then that Zedekiah foolishly rebelled against the king of Babylon.

⁴ King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon brought his entire army to surround Jerusalem. On the 10th day of the 10th month, during the 9th year of Zedekiah’s reign, the mighty army of Babylon was camped outside the city and built siege mounds around it. ⁵ This siege lasted 18 months, well into the 11th year of Zedekiah’s reign. ⁶ By the 9th day of the 4th month of that year, the famine had become so severe inside the city that no one had anything to eat. Panic was setting in as people feared starvation. ⁷ When a section of the city wall was breached, all the warriors of Jerusalem escaped through a gate between the two walls near the king’s garden. Even though the Chaldeans had the city surrounded, these warriors escaped the city under the cover of night and fled east toward the Jordan Valley. ⁸ But the Chaldean army discovered this and chased after Zedekiah, catching him on the plains of Jericho. All of his soldiers had scattered, and he was alone ⁹ when they captured him. They took him to the king of Babylon, who had set up his command post at Riblah in the land of Hamath. It was here that the king pronounced judgment on Zedekiah. ¹⁰ Zedekiah was forced to watch as his own sons and the nobles of Judah were butchered in front of him in Riblah. ¹¹ This was the very last thing he saw, because after this Nebuchadnezzar blinded Zedekiah’s eyes. He was then placed in bronze shackles and carried off to Babylon, where he remained in prison until his death.

Letter to Smyrna