Zedekiah
Zedekiah (/zɛdɪˈkaɪə/) was the twentieth and final King of Judah before the conquest of the kingdom by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. His birth name was Mattaniah/Mattanyahu (Hebrew: מַתַּנְיָהוּ, Mattanyāhū, "Gift of God"; Greek: Μαθθανίας; Latin: Matthanias).
| Zedekiah | |
|---|---|
Zedekiah from Guillaume Rouillé's Promptuarium Iconum Insigniorum, 1553 | |
| King of Judah | |
| Reign | 597–586 BC |
| Predecessor | Jehoiachin |
| Successor | Monarchy abolished |
| Born | c. 618 BC Jerusalem, Kingdom of Judah |
| Died | After 586 BC Babylon, Neo-Babylonian Empire |
| House | House of David |
| Father | Josiah |
| Mother | Hamutal |
After the siege of Jerusalem in 597 BC, Nebuchadnezzar II deposed king Jeconiah and installed his uncle Mattanyahu instead, changing his name to Zedekiah (2 Kings 24:17). The prophet Jeremiah was his counselor, yet he did not heed the prophet and his epitaph is "he did evil in the sight of the Lord" (2 Kings 24:19–20; Jeremiah 52:2–3).
William F. Albright dates the start of Zedekiah's reign to 598 BC, while Edwin R. Thiele gives the start in 597 BC. On that reckoning, Zedekiah was born in c. 617 BC or 618 BC, being twenty-one on becoming king. Zedekiah's reign ended with the siege and fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar II, which has been dated to 587 or 586 BC.