2 Kings 25 is the twenty-fifth and final chapter of the second part of the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible or the Second Book of Kings in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is a compilation of recorded acts of the kings of Israel and Judah by a Deuteronomic compiler in the seventh century BCE; a supplement was added in the sixth century BCE. This chapter records the events during the reign of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, the fall of Jerusalem, the governorship of Gedaliah, and the release of Jehoiachin from prison in Babylon.
This chapter was originally written in Biblical Hebrew. It is divided into 30 verses.
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), Aleppo Codex (10th century), and Codex Leningradensis (1008).
There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B;
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A parallel pattern of sequence is observed in the final sections of 2 Kings between 2 Kings 11-20 and 2 Kings 21-25, as follows:
A. Athaliah, daughter of Ahab, kills royal seed
B. Joash reigns (2 Kings 11–12)
C. Quick sequence of kings of Israel and Judah (2 Kings 13–16)
D. Fall of Samaria (2 Kings 17)
E. Revival of Judah under Hezekiah (2 Kings 18–20)
A'. Manasseh, a king like Ahab, promotes idolatry and kills the innocence (2 Kings 21)
B'. Josiah reigns (2 Kings 22–23)
C'. Quick succession of kings of Judah (2 Kings 24)
D'. Fall of Jerusalem (2 Kings 25)
E'. Elevation of Jehoiachin (2 Kings 25:27–30)
See also: Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC). King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon took the last of Solomon's accumulated masses of gold and silver (25:15 9) as he burned Solomon's Temple, palace and much of the city of Jerusalem (25:9 9).The fall of Jerusalem parallels the fall of Samaria:
The last siege of Jerusalem lasted nineteen months (25:1 9, 8), until 'the people of the land' being overcome by hunger (25:3 9, 2:11–12 9; 9, 4:9–10 9). Zedekiah tried to escape the city, but was captured and heavily punished (25:4–7 9). Thereafter, Jerusalem and its remaining inhabitants suffered destruction, burning, plundering, deportation and executions (verses 825:21 9).
And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the king's garden: (now the Chaldees were against the city round about:) and the king went the way toward the plain.[2]
And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon.[7]
And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem:[8]
"On the seventh of Av, gentiles entered the Sanctuary, and on the seventh and the eighth they ate there and desecrated it, by engaging in acts of fornication. And on the ninth, adjacent to nightfall, they set fire to it, and it continuously burned the entire day, as it is stated: "Woe unto us, for the day has declined, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out" (6:4 9).[11]
The aftermath of Jerusalem's defeat seemed to start promisingly, but ended disastrously when the Babylon-appointed governor, Gedaliah ben Ahikam ben Safan was killed by Ishmael ben Nethaniah ben Elishama of the royal family, causing the remaining inhabitants to flee to Egypt in fear of Babylonian reprisal.This passage probably is a summary of a more detailed report in Jeremiah 40–41.
But it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah, that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him at Mizpah.[13] The assassination of Gedaliah was commemorated in Fast of Gedalia, one of the fast days lamenting the fall of Jerusalem .[14]
Shifting the view from the land of Judah and the community in Egypt to the situation in Babylonia, the books of Kings end with a sign of hope. King Jehoiachin who was in prison since his capture in 598 BCE (attested by clay tablets from 592 BCE reporting regular provisions he received from Babylonian administrators) was pardoned and received special honor from the king of Babylon. With this passage, the editors of the books wished to stress that the history of Davidic kingdom did not end with the fate of Zedekiah and his sons (verse 7), but continue in Jehoiachin as a symbol of hope for freedom, a return to the homeland, and the restoration of the kingdom. The book of Ezekiel, written during the exile in Babylon, dated its prophecies according to Jehoiachin's regnal years (; 29:17; 31:1). Among his sons and grandchildren (3:17–19 9), Zerubbabel emerged as a hopeful political figure after Babylon's decline (; 2:20-23 9). The conclusion of the book must have been written during the reign of Evil-Merodach (562-560 BCE), as it seems unaware of the Babylonian king's demise after only two years on throne.
And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon in the year that he began to reign did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison[15]
See also: Jehoiachin's Rations Tablets.
And his allowance was a continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life.[20] In the parallel verse, there are words "until the day he died" before "all the days of his life".[21]
. Michael D. Coogan . The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books: New Revised Standard Version, Issue 48 . Coogan . Michael David . Marc Zvi . Brettler . Carol Ann . Newsom . Pheme . Perkins . Augmented 3rd . Oxford University Press . 2007 . 9780195288810 .
. Henry Hampton Halley. Halley's Bible Handbook: an abbreviated Bible commentary . 24th (revised). Zondervan Publishing House . 1965 . registration. 0-310-25720-4.
. Edwin R. Thiele. The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings: A Reconstruction of the Chronology of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah . 1951 . University of Chicago Press . Chicago.
. Ernst Würthwein . The Text of the Old Testament . Wm. B. Eerdmans . Grand Rapids, MI . 1995 . Erroll F.. Rhodes . 0-8028-0788-7 . January 26, 2019.
. David Winton Thomas . Documents from Old Testament Times . Thomas Nelson . Edinburgh and London. 1958. 1961. 84. 9780061300851 .