Thematic Bible
Thematic Bible
Zedekiah » Made king of judah by nebuchadnezzar » The evil reign of
He did evil in the sight of the Lord his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, the Lord's spokesman. He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him vow allegiance in the name of God. He was stubborn and obstinate, and refused to return to the Lord God of Israel.
Neither he nor the officials who served him nor the people of Judah paid any attention to what the Lord said through the prophet Jeremiah.
Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Babylonians. The Babylonians might hand me over to them and they will torture me."
He did evil in the sight of the Lord, as Jehoiakim had done. What follows is a record of what happened to Jerusalem and Judah because of the Lord's anger; he finally threw them out of his presence. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
King Zedekiah said to them, "Very well, you can do what you want with him. For I cannot do anything to stop you."
Then Zedekiah told Jeremiah, "Do not let anyone know about the conversation we have had. If you do, you will die. The officials may hear that I have talked with you. They may come to you and say, 'Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you. Do not hide anything from us. If you do, we will kill you.' If they do this, tell them, 'I was pleading with the king not to send me back to die in the dungeon of Jonathan's house.'"