11. Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years.
12. He sinned against the Lord and did not listen humbly to the prophet Jeremiah, who spoke the word of the Lord.
13. Zedekiah rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had forced him to swear in God's name that he would be loyal. He stubbornly refused to repent and return to the Lord, the God of Israel.
14. In addition, the leaders of Judah, the priests, and the people followed the sinful example of the nations round them in worshipping idols, and so they defiled the Temple, which the Lord himself had made holy.
15. The Lord, the God of their ancestors, had continued to send prophets to warn his people, because he wanted to spare them and the Temple.