The Reign of Zedekiah

11 Zedekiah was twenty-one e years old when he became king , and he reigned eleven e years in Jerusalem . 12 He did evil in the sight of the Lord his God ; he did not humble himself before e Jeremiah the prophet who spoke for the Lord . 13 He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar who had made him swear allegiance by God . But he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord God of Israel . 14 Furthermore , all the officials of the priests and the people were very unfaithful following all the abominations of the nations ; and they defiled the house of the Lord which He had sanctified in Jerusalem . 15 The Lord , the God of their fathers , sent word to them again and again by His messengers , because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place ; 16 but they continually mocked the messengers of God , despised His words and scoffed at His prophets , until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people , until there was no remedy .

The Captivity of Judah

17 Therefore He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary , and had no compassion on young man or virgin , old man or infirm ; He gave them all into his hand . 18 All the articles of the house of God , great and small , and the treasures of the house of the Lord , and the treasures of the king and of his officers , he brought them all to Babylon . 19 Then they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem , and burned all its fortified buildings with fire and destroyed all its valuable articles . 20 Those who had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon ; and they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia , 21 to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah , until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths . All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath until seventy years were complete .

Matthew Henry's Commentary on 2 Chronicles 36:11-21

Commentary on 2 Chronicles 36:1-21

(Read 2 Chronicles 36:1-21)

The ruin of Judah and Jerusalem came on by degrees. The methods God takes to call back sinners by his word, by ministers, by conscience, by providences, are all instances of his compassion toward them, and his unwillingness that any should perish. See here what woful havoc sin makes, and, as we value the comfort and continuance of our earthly blessings, let us keep that worm from the root of them. They had many times ploughed and sowed their land in the seventh year, when it should have rested, and now it lay unploughed and unsown for ten times seven years. God will be no loser in his glory at last, by the disobedience of men. If they refused to let the land rest, God would make it rest. What place, O God, shall thy justice spare, if Jerusalem has perished? If that delight of thine were cut off for wickedness, let us not be high-minded, but fear.