Approximately three years later (c. 609 B.C.E.), contrary to Jehovah’s word through Jeremiah and the oath that the king himself had taken in Jehovah’s name, Zedekiah rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar and sent to Egypt for military assistance. (2Ki 24:20; 2Ch 36:13; Jer 52:3; Eze 17:15) This brought the Babylonian armies under Nebuchadnezzar against Jerusalem. The siege of the city began “in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month.”​—Eze 24:1-6.

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 32 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.​—2Ki 25:2-7; Jer 39:2-7; 44:30; 52:6-11; compare Jer 24:8-10; Eze 12:11-16; 21:25-27.