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Person · one of several with this name

Zedekiah

Also called Mattaniah

Mentioned in 52 verses across 4 books, first in 2 Kings 24:17. The verses below are the ones linked to this person (the Theographic dataset, with our sourced corrections).

Questions about this

Is Jeremiah 29:11 a promise to you?

At a glance

Gender

Male

Ussher–Jones reckoning

born c. 618 BC

F. N. Jones’s Ussher-style chronology, used by Theographic: one of several traditional counts, added up from the ages and reigns in the Hebrew text. The Jewish count (Seder Olam) and the Septuagint’s figures differ from it, for early Genesis by centuries. Not a scholarly date.

Historians also date this period from evidence outside the Bible, and their dates can differ from this reckoning.

Group

Tribe of Judah

Family

Parents

Josiahson of Amon
Hamutal

Siblings

Jehoahazson of Josiah

Half-siblings (same father)

Jehoiakim
Johananson of Josiah

As the dataset records them from the biblical genealogies.

Often appears with

Named in the same verses most often. Sharing a verse doesn’t always mean they met.

God20 verses
Jeremiahson of Hilkiah17 verses
Nebuchadnezzar8 verses
Jehoiakim3 verses
Josiahson of Amon3 verses
Jeremiah2 verses
Maaseiah2 verses
Hamutal2 verses
Zephaniahson of Maaseiah2 verses
Pharaoh1 verse
Elasahson of Shaphan1 verse
Gemariahson of Hilkiah1 verse
Pashurson of Melchiah1 verse
Jehoahazson of Josiah1 verse

Places

Where the data places them (born, died, or an event they take part in) first; then places named in the same verses, which does not mean they were there.

Babylondied here23 shared verses
Jerusalemborn here; scene of “Reign of Zedekiah”12 shared verses
Riblah3 shared verses
Egypt2 shared verses
Jericho2 shared verses
Libnah2 shared verses
Sidon1 shared verse
Tyre1 shared verse
Gibeon1 shared verse
Arabah1 shared verse
Moab1 shared verse
Ammon1 shared verse

In the Bible

The first 10 of 52 verses, in Bible order. Text from the Berean Standard Bible; verse numbers follow the KJV.

2 Kings

2 Kings 24:17
Then the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place and changed his name to Zedekiah.
2 Kings 24:18
Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah.
2 Kings 24:20
For because of the anger of the LORD, all this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, until He finally banished them from His presence. And Zedekiah also rebelled against the king of Babylon.
2 Kings 25:2
And the city was kept under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year.
2 Kings 25:7
And they slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.

1 Chronicles

1 Chronicles 3:15
The sons of Josiah: Johanan was the firstborn, Jehoiakim the second, Zedekiah the third, and Shallum the fourth.

2 Chronicles

2 Chronicles 36:10
In the spring, King Nebuchadnezzar summoned Jehoiachin and brought him to Babylon, along with the articles of value from the house of the LORD. And he made Jehoiachin’s relative Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles 36:11
Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years.

Jeremiah

Jeremiah 1:3
and through the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, until the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.
Jeremiah 21:1
This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur son of Malchijah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah. They said,

Show all 52 verses

Events

Events the dataset lists Zedekiah as taking part in. Dates follow its Ussher–Jones reckoning (one of several traditional counts), not established history.

c. 597 BC
Reign of Zedekiah2 Kings 24:18–25:7 · at Jerusalem

Dictionary

From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), as attached to this record by Theographic. The entry is for the name and can describe more than one person who bore it. Easton wrote in 1897, and some of his views are now debated.

Read Easton’s entry

The last king of Judah. He was the third son of Josiah, and his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah, and hence he was the brother of Jehoahaz (2 Kings 23:31; 24:17, 18). His original name was Mattaniah; but when Nebuchadnezzar placed him on the throne as the successor to Jehoiachin he changed his name to Zedekiah. The prophet Jeremiah was his counsellor, yet “he did evil in the sight of the Lord” (2 Kings 24:19, 20; Jer. 52:2, 3). He ascended the throne at the age of twenty-one years. The kingdom was at that time tributary to Nebuchadnezzar; but, despite the strong remonstrances of Jeremiah and others, as well as the example of Jehoiachin, he threw off the yoke of Babylon, and entered into an alliance with Hophra, king of Egypt. This brought up Nebuchadnezzar, “with all his host” (2 King 25:1), against Jerusalem. During this siege, which lasted about eighteen months, “every worst woe befell the devoted city, which drank the cup of God’s fury to the dregs” (2 Kings 25:3; Lam. 4:4, 5, 10). The city was plundered and laid in ruins. Zedekiah and his followers, attempting to escape, were made captive and taken to Riblah. There, after seeing his own children put to death, his own eyes were put out, and, being loaded with chains, he was carried captive (B.C. 588) to Babylon (2 Kings 25:1-7; 2 Chr. 36:12; Jer. 32:4, 5; 34:2, 3; 39:1-7; 52:4-11; Ezek. 12:12), where he remained a prisoner, how long is unknown, to the day of his death.

After the fall of Jerusalem, Nebuzaraddan was sent to carry out its complete destruction. The city was razed to the ground. Only a small number of vinedressers and husbandmen were permitted to remain in the land (Jer. 52:16). Gedaliah, with a Chaldean guard stationed at Mizpah, ruled over Judah (2 Kings 25:22, 24; jer. 40:1, 2, 5, 6).