Later, when Jeremiah decided to leave Jerusalem to go to Benjamin, he was seized at the gate of Benjamin and falsely accused of falling away to the Chaldeans. Though Jeremiah denied the charge, Irijah, the officer having the oversight, did not listen to him but brought the prophet to the princes. This led to Jeremiah’s being imprisoned in the house of Jehonathan. After a considerable period had passed and Jerusalem was evidently again being besieged by the Babylonians, Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah. In reply to the king’s inquiry, Jeremiah told Zedekiah that he would be given into the hand of the king of Babylon. When Jeremiah pleaded that he not be returned to the house of Jehonathan, Zedekiah granted his request and had him put in custody in the Courtyard of the Guard.—Jer. 37:11-21; 32:1-5.

Indicating that Zedekiah was a very weak ruler is the fact that, when the princes later requested that Jeremiah be put to death for allegedly weakening the morale of the besieged people, Zedekiah said: “Look! He is in your hands. For there is nothing at all in which the king himself can prevail against you.” However, afterward Zedekiah granted Ebed-melech’s request to rescue Jeremiah and directed that Ebed-melech take along thirty men to assist in this. Later Zedekiah again had a private audience with Jeremiah. He assured the prophet that he would neither kill him nor deliver him into the hands of those seeking his death. But Zedekiah feared reprisals from the Jews who had fallen away to the Chaldeans and, therefore, did not heed Jeremiah’s inspired advice to surrender to the princes of Babylon. In further display of his fear, the king requested that Jeremiah not reveal the subject of their private discussion to the suspicious princes.—Jer. 38:1-28.

FALL OF JERUSALEM

Finally (607 B.C.E.), “in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month,” Jerusalem was broken through. By night Zedekiah and the men of war took to flight. Overtaken in the desert plains of Jericho, Zedekiah was taken to Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah. Zedekiah’s sons were slaughtered before his eyes. As Zedekiah was only about thirty-two years of age at the time, the boys could not have been very old. After witnessing the death of his sons, Zedekiah was blinded, bound with copper fetters and taken to Babylon, where he died in the house of custody.—2 Ki. 25:2-7; Jer. 39:2-7; 44:30; 52:6-11; compare Jeremiah 24:8-10; Ezekiel 12:11-16; 21:25-27.

5. Son of Jeconiah (Jehoiachin), but apparently not one of the seven borne to him as a prisoner in Babylon.—1 Chron. 3:16-18.

6. A priest or the forefather of one among those attesting by seal the “trustworthy arrangement” that was drawn up during Nehemiah’s governorship.—Neh. 9:38; 10:1, 8.

ZEEB

(Zeʹeb) [wolf].

A prince of Midian in the forces that Gideon and the Israelites defeated. After their initial loss, Zeeb and his fellow prince Oreb fled, only to be captured and slain by the Ephraimites. The wine vat where Zeeb was killed came to be called by his name.—Judg. 6:33; 7:23-25; 8:1-3; Ps. 83:11.

ZELA(H)

(Zeʹla[h]) [rib, side].

A city in Benjamin. (Josh 18:21, 28) The bones of Saul and Jonathan were buried at Zela. Earlier, Saul’s father Kish had been interred there. (2 Sam. 21:14) Some identify Zela(h) with Khirbet Salah, located between Gibeon and Jerusalem. Some scholars think that in Joshua “Zelah” should be combined with the name that follows, “Ha-eleph”; however, see HA-ELEPH.

ZELEK

(Zeʹlek).

An Ammonite warrior who joined David’s “mighty men of the military forces.”—1 Chron. 11:26, 39; 2 Sam. 23:37.

ZELOPHEHAD

(Ze·loʹphe·had) [shadow (protection) from fear].

A descendant of Manasseh through Machir, Gilead and Hepher. (Num. 26:29-33) Zelophehad died during the forty-year wilderness wandering, not with “those who ranged themselves against Jehovah in the assembly of Korah, but for his own sin.” (Num. 27:3) He had no sons, but was survived by five daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah, all of whom survived to enter the Promised Land.—Num. 27:1; 1 Chron. 7:15.

This special situation raised problems concerning the inheritance. When Zelophehad’s daughters requested their father’s share of the land in Manasseh, Moses brought their case before Jehovah. God’s judicial decision was that brotherless daughters should receive the family inheritance. (Num. 27:1-9; Josh. 17:3, 4) Later, it was stipulated that these daughters had to marry men of their father’s tribe so that the inheritance would remain within the tribe.—Num. 36:1-12.

ZELZAH

(Zelʹzah).

A location in Benjamin. As one sign confirming Saul’s leadership over Israel, he was to meet and receive a message about his father’s lost she-asses from two men “close by the tomb of Rachel in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah.” (1 Sam. 10:1, 2, 7) The Septuagint Version has been translated to read “leaping mightily” instead of “Zelzah,” though the latter term appears in the Hebrew Masoretic text. Rachel was buried at an unknown point ‘on the way from Bethel to Bethlehem’ (Gen. 35:16-20), and the site of Zelzah remains undetermined.

ZEMARAIM

(Zem·a·raʹim) [possibly, double fleece of wool or double peak].

1. A Benjamite city mentioned with Bethel. (Josh. 18:21, 22) It is often suggested that it was near or at Ras ez-Zeimara, over three miles (5 kilometers) NE of Bethel. Nevertheless, the exact location of Zemaraim is unknown.

2. An eminence in the mountainous region of Ephraim. From this mountain, King Abijah of Judah spoke, pointing out that Jeroboam and the ten tribes of Israel had rejected Jehovah’s kingdom covenant with David. Apparently, Bethel was in the same neighborhood. (2 Chron. 13:4, 19) Possibly Mount Zemaraim was named for the Benjamite city of Zemaraim, but the mountain’s precise location remains undetermined.

ZEMARITE

(Zemʹa·rite).

A family or tribe that descended from Ham’s son Canaan. (Gen. 10:15, 18; 1 Chron. 1:13, 16) Mention of this Canaanite people between “Arvadite” (linked with Arvad off the Phoenician coast) and “Hamathite” (likely associated with Hamath in Syria) indicates that the Zemarites settled along the N Phoenician coast. According to an emendation, Ezekiel 27:8 mentions “skilled [wise] men of Zemer” (RS; The Bible in Basic English), suggested by some as the city of the Zemarites and tentatively identified with Tell Kazel, about twenty-two miles (35 kilometers) NE of Tripoli. However, here the Hebrew text reads: “Your skilled ones [men], O Tyre.” (AT; NW; RS, ftn.) Pointing to another location, others would link the Zemarites with Sumra, a seacoast town between Tripoli and Arvad.

ZEMIRAH

(Ze·miʹrah).

A family head in the tribe of Benjamin; son or descendant of Becher.—1 Chron. 7:6, 8, 9.

ZENAN

(Zeʹnan) [point, or, perhaps, a place of flocks].

A town in the Shephelah region of Judah. (Josh. 15:33, 37) Many authorities consider it likely to be the same as Zaanan of Micah 1:11.

ZENAS

(Zeʹnas) [possibly a shortened form of Zenodorus, meaning gift of Zeus].

An acquaintance of Paul, concerning whom Titus was told: “Carefully