1. Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king; he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah.
2. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, just as Jehoiakim had done.
3. Indeed, the things done in Jerusalem and in Judah so angered the Lord that he cast them out from his presence. Thus Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
4. In the tenth month of the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and his entire army advanced against Jerusalem, encamped around it, and built siege walls on every side.
5. The siege of the city continued until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
6. On the ninth day of the fourth month, when famine had gripped the city and the people had no more bread,